Budget: Help us get more than 100,000 young Londoners into work, boroughs urge

Young women put together a machine

As the chancellor sets out his Budget, London Councils has urged Rishi Sunak to upgrade support for the 100,000 young jobseekers in the capital.

London already has the worst youth unemployment rate in the UK, with one in five young people out of work.

With the furlough scheme ending last month, 25,000 more young people are also now at risk of unemployment.

Councillors are calling for an urgent rethink of of existing jobseeker support schemes.

Two young Londoners, Zara and Serena, have told the BBC about the struggle they went through to find work and how vital support schemes like Kickstart can be for people like them.

Zara now has a short-term placement at an arts charity

Zara said her time job hunting was "very stressful" until she secured a placement at an arts charity, where she is picking up key computing skills.

She said: "A lot of people think you're just being a bum, that it's easy to go out and get a job.

"It's not easy to just go out and get a job -- that's why we're in this position in the first place."

Serena is now working in events management

Serena was working as a checkout assistant before she got her big break with a job in events management.

She said: "It's frustrating when you know you have the skillset but you just don't have access, that foot in the door, to the industry where you want to work.

"When you're constantly applying and either not getting a response or getting a negative response back, it's just about keeping going and about networking to find opportunities."

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Manny Hothi, chief executive at Trust for London, outlined the barriers young people face when it comes to finding and keeping a job that support schemes like Kickstart can help them overcome.

He said: "One common barrier is lacking contacts in and knowledge of growth sectors, such as tech and life sciences.

"Another is needing to improve 'soft' skills such as communication and timekeeping.

"Some young people are not able to afford commuting costs, particularly if they are on lower wages."

What are the five key reforms London Councils wants to see?

• Repurpose Kickstart Scheme funding to create London Kickstart Plus - which would provide support for disadvantaged young Londoners.

• Offer early entry to the Restart Programme and other programmes, and more intensive day one support, to those coming off furlough and those who have more barriers to getting a job.

• Extend, with Transport for London, the Zip card scheme to Londoners aged 18-24 for the first six months of employment, as cost of travel is proving a barrier to employment.

• Reform the apprenticeship levy to provide clear incentives to employers to offer entry-level apprenticeships.

• Gain a fair share of the UK Shared Prosperity Fund and Adult Education Budget for London - to fund employment and skills projects for young people and more broadly.

Councillor Darren Rodwell, deputy chair of London Councils, a cross-party group representing the capital's 32 borough councils and the City, urged the chancellor to recognise the value of these schemes and ramp up support for London's 107,000 unemployed young people, so they could get the same opportunities.

"It can't be right that London has a higher than average rate of young people unemployed," he said.

"We need our young people to be ready for tomorrow's jobs."

Mr Rodwell said London had suffered the worst impact of the pandemic as the country's business hub, which had further damaged young people's job prospects.

He urged the chancellor not to start "levelling down" support for the capital's unemployed in the Budget.