South Gloucestershire Council

Published: 26/09/2014

A skills employment programme aimed at improving job prospects for hundreds of unemployed young people across the West of England has launched.

The HYPE West (Helping Young People into Employment) programme will provide 600 unemployed people aged 18 to 24 from across the region with a range of support and activities to help improve their chances of finding a job, and stay in employment.

As well as mentoring and job coaching, the initiative includes a high quality work experience placement, with a guaranteed reference, and a job-matching service aimed at securing an apprenticeship or job for each participant. The young people on the programme will also benefit from ongoing support throughout the first six months of employment.

To be eligible, young people must be aged 18 to 24, have been claiming Job Seeker’s Allowance for 13 to 26 weeks and be ready to start work within 26 weeks of joining the programme.

Cllr Ian Blair, Chair of South Gloucestershire Council’s Children and Young People Committee, said: “HYPE West will see South Gloucestershire Council work alongside the other West of England local authorities and agencies to help tackle the issue of unemployment amongst young people in the region.

“The programme aims to help young people break the cycle of not being able to get a job because of lack of experience and not being able to get experience because of not having a job. Young people taking part will receive one-to-one support to help improve their skills and employment potential and they will also receive assistance to secure a job or apprenticeship.”

South Gloucestershire Council are working with other HYPE West members for the project, which include Bristol City Council, Bath & North Somerset Council, North Somerset Council, the West of England Local Enterprise Partnership and the Department for Work and Pensions.

Job coaching will be provided by organisations in the region. Further Education colleges taking part include South Gloucestershire and Stroud College, City of Bristol College, City of Bath College, Norton Radstock College, Weston College, Creative Youth Network, Knightstone Housing and TCV Employment and Training, along with Southern Brooks Community Partnership.

In South Gloucestershire and Bristol, Business West, which represents and works with more than 18,000 businesses across the South West, will be signing up businesses to offer work experience placements and job opportunities. This service will be provided by Bath & North East Somerset Council and North Somerset Council in their areas.

The programme will run until 31 December 2015. For more information or to get involved in the programme please contact Lucy Perrott on 0117 922 2259 or email lucy.perrott@bristol.gov.uk.