New Youth Hub to provide employment support and opportunities for young people in Redbridge

Published: 28 April 2021

To support young people who may have been adversely affected by the COVID-19 pandemic, Redbridge Council has launched the Redbridge Youth Hub, a one-stop virtual shop for young people aged 16 - 24 to find information and advice on employment opportunities, education, apprenticeships, training, managing money and well-being services in and around the borough. View Redbridge Youth Hub.

The Youth Hub has been developed in collaboration with Work Redbridge, Redbridge Connexions and the Redbridge Youth Service with engagement and involvement of young people.

Matthew Essex, Director of Regeneration and Culture said:

“The Council is excited to launch the ‘Redbridge Youth Hub’, for young people, parents, carers, schools, colleges and practitioners, this is also a great resource for young job seekers in Redbridge.

“To support local young people, the Council is also providing employment opportunities through the Government’s Kickstart programme which supports young job seekers aged 16 to 24 year who receive universal credit into paid work placements. The council is offering six month’s paid work placements in a range of council services, such as Economic Development, Planning, Children Services and Schools in Redbridge.”

The hub also provides support from the Redbridge Connexions Team and the Work Redbridge Employment Service, which prepare young people for jobs, and match them to local education, employment and training opportunities.

Salise Hassan, Assistant Headteacher, Oaks Park High School, said:

"The Redbridge Youth Hub is an excellent resource for schools to utilise as part of their careers provision. It contains lots of high quality information, advice and guidance on employment, education, training and wellbeing for young people that is crucially, specific to our locality.

“Having one central place for all this information that highlights all the support available to students is really valuable. Schools can also use online resources that can be utilised in lessons to help students develop their employability skills.”

The Council is a Department of Work and Pensions approved Kickstart Gateway and is working with council contractors, schools and local voluntary and community sector organisations to support them in creating job placement opportunities for unemployed young people. The Kickstart Scheme provides funding to employers to create job placements.

Access and awareness of where young people can find helpful information is a key aspect of the Child Friendly Cities & Communities programme, which sees the Council working with the UK Committee for UNICEF (UNICEF UK), to strive towards becoming a child friendly Redbridge.

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