Westminster Life: ARU, apprenticeships and a new youth jobs guarantee

Things have been heating up this week as I spent one of the warmest days of the year at ARU Peterborough speaking to a national audience about the progress we are making to improve learning opportunities in the city, writes Peterborough MP Andrew Pakes.

ARU Peterborough is one of the most positive additions to the city in recent years and a testament to how much we can achieve when we pull together. So, it was great to speak to the FACE (Forum for Access and Education) Conference about the value of partnership working in the city and to highlight the contributions of ARU Peterborough, Peterborough College and employers.

I told participants that Peterborough is trying to live out that mission: a city where it is your talent and hard work, not your postcode or background, that decides your future. ARU Peterborough is already showing what this looks like, rooted in local communities, working with employers and offering degree apprenticeships so people can earn, learn and stay in the place they call home.

This spirit was also present at the business breakfast at Peterborough Rugby Club that I attended this week. This is a smashing club with more than 100 years to its name. It also brings together young people to show the sporting talent we have in the city. Thank you to all the businesses that are backing them.

This week also marks a big shift nationally with the government’s Youth Guarantee coming into effect, a £2.5 billion plan to ensure every young person aged 16–24 has the chance to earn or learn. At its heart is the new Youth Jobs Grant, offering £3,000 to businesses for every hire of an eligible young person aged 18–24 who has been on Universal Credit and looking for work for six months. Alongside this sits the Jobs Guarantee: a six‑month job, fully funded by government for up to 25 hours a week at the minimum wage, for young people who have been looking for work for 18 months, with support to help them stay in work afterwards.

The 40 per cent drop in apprenticeship starts is one of the most damaging legacies of the Conservative years, and we need to turn it around.

Peterborough has been identified as a hotspot for youth unemployment, which is why this support matters so much to us. Jobcentres are rolling out expanded help, including more time with work coaches, earlier skills reviews and a dedicated “Youth Guarantee Gateway” meeting, making sure young people are offered jobs, apprenticeships, work experience or training, not just left to drift. I will be working closely with our Jobcentre and local partners to make sure this support is felt on the ground here in Peterborough, not just written into a Whitehall briefing.

My message to businesses in Peterborough is simple: we need you. The Youth Guarantee will only succeed if local employers step up to offer placements, apprenticeships and jobs, using the grants and support on offer to build their workforce and give our young people a real shot at success.

If you run a firm in our city, whether in manufacturing, retail, care, construction or the growing green economy, please look at the Youth Jobs Grant and apprenticeship incentives and consider how you can play your part. In Parliament and here at home, I will keep making the case that every young person deserves a pathway to a good job and that Peterborough should be at the forefront of Britain’s new skills revolution.