Steve Rotheram announces network of Youth Hubs to support young people

Steve Rotheram, Metro Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, has announced the opening of a new support service offering a wide range of in-person services to help young people into education, training and employment across the Liverpool City Region.

As well as a comprehensive on-line service offering events, careers information, advice and guidance, young people will also be able to get in-person support at a network of eight initial Youth Hubs across the city region.

Based in existing organisations with a strong track record of supporting young people, Youth Hubs are also home to expert Job Centre Work Coaches who are there to help people find, stay in, and progress in a job.

The hubs will form a key part of Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram’s Young Person’s Guarantee, a manifesto commitment that promises a job, training or apprenticeship opportunity to all under 25s. When announced last year, the scheme was the first of its kind in the country and has since been replicated in Scotland and Wales.

Speaking about the service, Metro Mayor Steve Rotheram said:

“Too many young people across our region are too often denied the chance to reach their full potential, not because they lack talent, but because they lack opportunity. The impact of the pandemic has only made things worse, with the poorest and most vulnerable hit the hardest.

“I know better than most the transformative impact that some decent careers advice and the opportunity to prove yourself can have. I want to make sure that all our young people get that same chance.

“These Youth Hubs will be an invaluable part of making that happen, offering careers advice and guidance; help accessing opportunities in training and education and giving our young people the support they need to shape their own destiny and get on in life.

“I am very proud to have just been re-elected on a promise of no one left behind. I’m already getting to work on making that a reality, starting young people in every part of our region.”

The accompanying Youth Hub website is an extension of the Combined Authority’s pioneering Be More service and is the first in the country to include details of hundreds of jobs available through the Government’s Kickstart scheme for those unemployed 16-24 year-olds who are eligible.

Youth Hubs are a national Department for Work & Pensions initiative aimed at helping young people access support to develop their skills, understand their career options and get the employment and training advice they need.

Minister for Employment, Mims Davies MP said:

“By rolling out our DWP Youth Hubs across local communities like these in Liverpool City Region, means young people will, importantly, be able to access vital, suitable support from our Work Coaches in a range of settings helping to match them with local opportunities; whether it’s more training to boost confidence or focussed help to assist them to move into employment.

“This is a challenging time, and we are serious about investing in our young people as we get Britain back working again and moving further into recovery. That’s why, as part of our enhanced Youth Offer, we are also injecting £2 billion into the DWP Kickstart scheme, creating new, subsidised, high-quality roles for under 25s as we continue our work to protect, support and create jobs.”

Youth Hubs are available to any young person within the city region who needs support.

Individual Youth Hub services can be found at the Local Youth Hubs Page.

Each hub is tailored to young people, so whether you’re interested in starting your own business, require specialist support or just need someone to talk to – everything is covered.

The first eight face-to-face Youth Hubs are open at:

• Merseyside Community Training [Birkenhead, Environmental Innovation Centre]
• Big Onion [Bootle, Strand Shopping Centre]
• Merseyside Youth Association [Liverpool, Hanover Street]
• Thrive [Liverpool, Preston Street]
• Ellergreen Community Centre[Liverpool, Ellergreen Road]
• Joseph Lappin Centre [Liverpool, Mill Lane]
• Genesis Kickstart2Employment [St Helens, Beacon Building]
• Employability Solutions @ The Reach [The Reach, Parklands, Speke]

More Youth Hubs will open over the coming months.