Careers Hub awarded over £500,000 to continue to help transform careers education across the Liverpool City Region

The Liverpool City Region Combined Authority has approved £500,000 in additional funding from The Careers & Enterprise Company to continue the success of the Liverpool City Region’s Career Hub.

The funding will enable the Careers Hub, managed by Growth Platform – the Liverpool City Region’s growth company, to continue to support all schools and colleges across the area and to continue to strengthen links with local businesses.

Steve Rotheram, Mayor of the Liverpool City Region, said:

“Thriving local businesses are the backbone of our economy and – for our region to flourish – we need them to succeed. 

“But for too long, too many people in our area have been held back from fulfilling their potential, not by a lack of talent, but by a lack of opportunity and joined-up thinking. 

“Our Careers Hub is helping to put that right by joining the dots between education and businesses in our region. This further funding means that they can continue help even more of our young people access the thousands of jobs and training opportunities we’re creating for them.

“This is a chance for employers of all sizes to work with us, to identify and plug the skills gaps that our economy is going to rely heavily on in the future, and to give local people the chance to get on in life. I’m looking forward to seeing where this next chapter takes them.”

Careers Hubs are a national initiative run by the Careers & Enterprise Company as part of the government’s careers strategy.

Launched in the city region in 2018 the Careers Hub brings together schools, colleges, employers, and education providers across the region to make it easier for schools and colleges to improve how they prepare young people for the world of work.

The Careers Hub works with all 137 secondary schools and colleges across the region supporting them to better engage with employers, link curriculum learning to careers, and enabling young people to gain experience of the workplace. This is delivered through initiatives such as Give an Hour, Creating Careers in the Curriculum, and Let’s Explore.

Welcoming the announcement Gill Walsh, Careers Hub lead at Growth Platform said:

“Our ambition is to inspire our future workforce – we do this by bringing together and working with over 300 business volunteers to empower our young people to make informed decisions about the world of work. It is this business engagement that is so vital for our young people – by highlighting the wide range of employment opportunities available across our city region we can make sure they are given the opportunity to make informed choices about their future.

“Importantly, the Careers Hub also enables businesses to raise awareness of the skills and attitudes that they require from their future workforce.”

The work of the Careers Hub is supported by Cornerstone Employers who are large and small businesses that invest time in and resources to support local schools and colleges, alongside Enterprise Advisers and Enterprise Coordinators.

Lesley Penton, Chair of Cornerstones and Partnership Director at The Regenda Group said:

“This is fantastic news for the Careers Hub and more importantly for our young people. Here at The Regenda Group we are proud to be a Cornerstone Employer as it enables us work with local schools and colleges to improve careers education to ensure key sector skills are understood by teachers and education leaders as well as being able to champion jobs in our communities across the region.  It is also gives us an invaluable route into potential new employees for our organisation.

“The importance of having a Careers Hub in the city region should not be underestimated – it is these Hubs that allow businesses to engage directly not only with the school and colleges but with the students and really help improve the prospects and raise aspirations for thousands of young people.”

The Careers Hub operates in partnership with seven organisations, including All About STEM, Career Connect, Elevate EBP, Liverpool City Region Combined Authority, Shaping Futures, St Helens Chamber and Wirral Council.