‘Pioneering’ town project launched to target alarming unemployment rates in young people

East Sussex County Council (ESCC) has helped to launch a new project examining the factors as to why young people in Hastings are failing to progress after leaving school.

Known as the Connected Futures Hastings Project, East Sussex County Council partnered with CXK, an organisation dedicated to transforming the lives of young people and adults, to discover why young people in Hastings are not going into employment, further education or training once they leave secondary school.

Funded through a Connected Futures grant by the Youth Futures Foundation, the project will be comprised of 10 young people in Hastings working with researchers who will connect with other young adults in the area. Researchers will record young people’s experiences to discover the root cause of them not progressing.

Research from the Office of National Statistics shows between 2019-2020, the number of young people leaving school without any plans to continue in education, employment or training were 8.9% in Hastings, compared to 5.6% across England.

Examining these statistics, the project was launched to reduce the rates of young people doing nothing by investigating the disadvantages young people may be facing, including challenging family circumstances, school absences and suspensions, and lack of appropriate, consistent, integrated support.

According to the Youth Futures Foundation, a £16m fund dedicated to helping young people attain jobs through pioneering local partnerships, currently one in 10 young people in the UK are not in employment or education.

In more deprived areas, such as Burnley and Blackpool in the North West, rates of youth unemployment are twice as high as neighbouring areas.

Leader of Hastings Borough Council, Paul Barnett, said: ‘Hastings Borough Council are proud to be part of the core partnership for this project.

‘It provides a great opportunity to improve outcomes for the young people of our town.

‘This is a pioneering project for the town, and it’s great to be linking in with towns across the country so that we can share lessons learnt and can build skills and resilience across our community and further afield’.

Photo by Gabriel Mihalcea