News Item

Leeds Ahead are working with Leeds City Council and Jobcentre Plus to support the Future Jobs Fund. This Government initiative is supporting the creation of jobs to help combat the impact of the recession on young people. It will create around 170,000 new jobs across the country by March 2011 for 18-24 year olds who have been out of work for over 6 months to prevent them from becoming long-term unemployed.

With more young people in Leeds being unemployed than the national average, the Future Jobs Fund is playing a vital role in helping prevent this unemployment being long term.

Whereas the majority of jobs will be placed in the public and third sectors, Leeds Ahead has a pioneering approach of linking jobs to the private sector, supporting their CSR teams. Jobs must have a clear community or environment benefit, and Premier Farnell, Yorkshire Bank, Kodak and Hewlett Training are currently involved in creating new roles.

The first placement has been made by Premier Farnell, who have appointed a Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) Assistant to support the Company Secretary, and tasks will include helping to meet external reporting requirements associated with the Group’s CSR initiatives. Steven Webb, Company Secretary and General Counsel for Premier Farnell plc said “We believe that it is imperative that responsible businesses take action to create opportunities for young people and working with the Future Jobs Fund has given us the chance to offer a young person access to training and development, as well as a guaranteed income. The Fund offers employers a paid role to support their community work, and in return the Company invests time and experience in developing that young person, making them better able to find a job after the programme.”