Mayor's View: Every young person deserves a chance for a good job

I’ve already met lots of young people who have been helped by the Combined Authority into work experience, internships, apprenticeships, college courses or are taking on degrees. They were all aiming high and thinking about the jobs that could follow. But if you look at the figures for the amount of young people not in either employment, education or training, more work is needed. That’s what I’m doing as Mayor.

Young people often say how hard it is to prove experience and skills to employers when it’s hard to get a chance in the first place.

We’ve introduced digital badges across the region to help young people prove what they can do. A traditional CV remains important, but it only tells you so much.

But our digital badges prove recognised, verifiable skills that employers want – things like problem-solving, teamwork, resilience, communication. That’s hard to show on a piece of paper, so when someone completes an internship or training programme we make sure they don't just walk away with experience, they leave with verified badges showing what they've learned.

We've issued more than 2,300 badges to over 1,200 young people so far.

They are just one part of the picture. Getting young people into good jobs takes proper support, real opportunities, and investment in the right places.

In the autumn we set up the Youth Hub at Peterborough United’s Weston Homes Stadium — a one-stop shop for young people who are out of work or education. It's a place where they can get advice and support with a range of issues including housing and health, because being out of work, education or training can be for a variety of reasons.

There’s no bouncing between different services. Just straightforward help, in an environment that’s new and different, when they need it.

We've also built ARU Peterborough, giving young people higher education opportunity on their doorstep. That matters because for too long, talented young people from Peterborough had to leave the city to get a degree, or simply would find relocating too difficult or expensive, and then gave up higher education altogether. Now they can study here, build a career here, and contribute to the local economy.

And we've backed Peterborough College with funding for the new Green Technology Centre, training young people for jobs of today and tomorrow, in industries like energy and advanced manufacturing.

Work gives people independence, confidence, and the chance to build a future. But not everyone gets a fair shot. Some face barriers no qualifications, no connections, no work experience or simply a difficult upbringing.

Digital badges, the Youth Hub, ARU Peterborough, the Green Technology Centre are all part of that effort for our city, alongside creating more opportunities for apprenticeships, internships and work experience. They won't solve everything overnight, but they're opening doors that were closed before.

Let’s get Peterborough working.