Wyre Council have asked Positive Futures of Fleetwood to run a new project called Fylde Focus as part of the Council’s UK SPF funding allocation.

Fylde Focus is an employability support project for those aged 16 – 24 years old living across the Fylde Borough, who are not currently in education, employment or training (NEET).

The project provides participants with support in building their career and entering the workplace, through one-to-one support, access to further education and training courses, and support with CV writing and interview skills.

An apprenticeship grant is also available for employers who can support these young people of £5,000.

Give just an hour, or more, to inspire young people about their future career in schools and colleges in your local community.

This could include activities such as conducting mock interviews, delivering presentations, setting live project briefs, competitions, offering work experience and mentoring.

Your unique industry knowledge and experience as someone who owns or works for a business can make a difference to a young person considering their career.

Are you able to offer a placement to a current college student? Colleges are looking for the support of businesses to offer a work placement where students can experience the world of work and learn more about sectors in which they aspire to work. One of the ways to offer placements is to get involved with colleges offering T Levels.

T Levels are new technical courses studied from age 16 to 19. Students spend 20% of their time in the workplace learning real hands-on skills in their chosen route, so they are ready to join the workforce straight after their course. Businesses who have taken early T Level students on placement often recruit those young people after their course as they know them well and have benefited from their fresh approach and new skills.

A traineeship is a skills development programme that includes a work experience placement. Traineeships help prepare young people aged 16 to 25, for employment or an apprenticeship.

Traineeships must include at least 70 hours of work experience placement. They can last from 6 weeks up to 1 year, but most last less than 6 months. Employers can offer a work experience placement to a trainee, working with a training provider to design the programme.

Apprenticeship Ambassadors are all either current Apprentices or former Apprentices who want to promote the benefits of taking part in the Apprenticeship programme to employers and other young people. They can do this through undertaking activities and/or speaking about their experiences at schools, youth clubs, careers fairs and business events. They can also meet employers face to face to encourage them to take on Apprentices.

Lancashire Employer Ambassadors are employers who want to promote the benefits of Apprenticeships to other employers and young people. They may even have been apprentices themselves and are passionate about their experiences.

Do you want to support careers advice in schools to promote your organisation or sector? An Enterprise Adviser is a volunteer from a business who works closely with the headteacher or Senior Leadership Team of a school or college to provide strategic support.

You will use your business experience and professional networks to help develop and implement an effective strategy that puts opportunities with local employers at the heart of a young person’s education. You will also of course inspire young people and prepare them for when they leave education.

Apprentices are not just for those aged 16-18, you can use apprenticeship funding to retrain and upskill your existing workforce. For example, an experienced employee may be keen to get a formal qualification in their specialist area. Or perhaps someone has the aptitude and drive to learn something new and progress into a different role?

There are apprenticeships from level 2 to level 7 (equivalent to a degree), so you’ll be able to find apprenticeships that suit the learning and development needs of your employees. Apprenticeships are designed by employers, so they reflect the relevant knowledge, skills and behaviours that your business needs.

Skills Bootcamps offer free, flexible courses of up to 16 weeks for adults aged 19 or over and who are either in work, self-employed, recently unemployed or returning to work after a break. They give people the opportunity to build up sector-specific skills and fast-track to an interview with a local employer.

Multiply is a fully funded programme aimed at helping people to become more confident with numbers.

Multiply for Individuals
Get support and advice to gain the skills that you need for the job you want, to support your lifestyle, or for a businesses idea you have.

Multiply for employers
If your business could benefit from improving the numeracy skills of your workforce, Multiply can help.
You can access bespoke courses designed to meet your business needs, all of which are free and flexible to work around your business.
Multiply not only helps your business, but supports your employees to become more confident with numbers, reducing workforce errors and improving productivity.

Courses are being delivered across Lancashire and can be accessed in person or online.

The network connects schools, academies and colleges with local employers and dynamic careers programme providers. It works to create inspirational and meaningful encounters for young people within the world of work.

Evidence proves that a young person who has four or more encounters with an employer is 86% less likely to be unemployed or not in education or training, and can earn up to 18% more during their career.

Through both strategic planning and practical activity, the Lancashire Careers Hub inspires young people to get to know the world of work, understand what work is, explore their options and build real confidence about their future.

The Report of the Independent Panel on Technical Education, 2016, chaired by Lord Sainsbury, has given new focus to Technical Education in England, resulting in the government’s Post-16 Skills Plan and the Skills and Post-16 Education Act 2022, focusing initially on new, high quality level 3 courses for 16-19 year olds – T Levels. Further national research on Higher Technical Education has also identified a ‘Missing Middle’ – the shortage of people qualified to levels 4 and 5.

Providing work placements and employment to T-Level students will benefit employers and ease their burden of recruiting talented individuals.

There are a number of projects being funded by DWP and ESF to support people getting back into work, so as a business by offering jobs you are able to improve the life chances of Lancashire residents. The Skills Hub is happy to link you to funded projects which offer tailored training programmes based on the needs of local employers so that the candidates put forward are already equipped with job specific skills required to excel in their role.

These tailored courses also support recruits with recognised qualifications linked to their needs and the needs of the business. Can include some nationally recognised qualifications e.g. Food safety, CSCS etc.

These projects are funded, and the support comes at no cost to the employer.

If you are struggling to recruit into technical jobs then Bootcamps offer free, flexible courses of up to 16 weeks for adults aged 19 or over who are either in work or recently unemployed. They give people the opportunity to build up sector-specific skills and fast-track to an interview with a local employer. The current Bootcamp offer across Lancashire covers jobs in the following sectors Digital, Rail and Engineering.

Apprenticeships allow people of all ages to earn whilst they learn and train for a career, gaining structured qualifications whilst acquiring valuable work experience. There’s a stereotype that Apprenticeships are only obtainable in manual trades like construction or hairdressing, but you can now do an Apprenticeship in almost any job role. Over 600 apprenticeship standards across all sectors including social media, marketing to business administration and beauty therapy, you will find Apprentices virtually anywhere. From multi-national organisations to small local companies and everywhere in between. Already, more than 130,000 employers offer Apprenticeships.

So, if you are recruiting new talent into the business by choosing an apprenticeship you build the knowledge, skills and behaviours your business needs to succeed?

Give opportunities to young people from a wide range of backgrounds, leading to a more diverse workforce.

Supports businesses undergoing industrial restructuring by providing skills and employability support for employees at risk of redundancy. Also supports newly unemployed individuals or recently made redundant (within 3 months of leaving an organisation due to redundancy).

We can provide you and your team with a range of advice and support which is tailored to your needs. Our friendly advisors can help you and your team work through a range of learning programmes in order for you to up-skill or retrain for another role. In addition, we can help you and your team with:

• Improving your CV
• Job searches
• Interview skills

End date March 2023

These projects are funded, and the support comes at no cost to the employer.

The Lancashire Skills and Employment Hub, DWP/Jobcentre Plus, the National Careers Service and the Skills Support for the Workforce Programme are working together to ensure a coordinated approach to supporting employers who are going through the redundancy process and their employees.

Partners will work with businesses in developing a tailored package of support for employees who are at risk of/who are being made redundant.