Young Jobless Get Working! (Milton Keynes Liberal Democrats)

Milton Keynes Liberal Democrats <info@mk-libdems.co.uk>

Young Jobless Get Working!

February 6, 2010 9:24 PM

Young unemployed people are starting work this month - many for the first time - under an innovative new jobs fund programme.

The Future Jobs Fund is to create 96 jobs in Milton Keynes with more than half of these posts to be offered by employers over the next few months.

For some young people, the recession has meant that this scheme gives them the first genuine opportunity to start their working lives and pursue a career.

This is all thanks to Milton Keynes Council successfully bidding for more than £600,000 of government cash from the Department for Work and Pensions to help cut unemployment among young people in the city (currently 25% of all unemployed people in Milton Keynes are 18-24 year-olds).

Now the first few posts are being created at local employers, including Maybe magazine, Women and Work (a charity to get women into employment), youth volunteering organisation Make a Difference (MAD), MK College, MK Dons Education Trust, Age Concern and MKC landscapes.

Donna Whittaker, who has been unemployed for over six months, said: "I am very grateful to the Future Jobs Fund and I'm extremely happy to be back in work. I have never worked in a charity organisation before. It is different to what I am used to, but I am enjoying it all the same. I am kept very busy doing various different tasks, some of them new to me, which is challenging but beneficial."

Liberal Democrat councillor Jenni Ferrans, cabinet member responsible for economic development, added: "Local employers, helped by the Future Jobs Fund and MK Council are helping young people to start their working lives as they should - working!We are determined that our young people will not suffer the depression that mass youth unemployment brings, and I thank all those who have worked hard to identify suitable jobs and training."