London Evening Standard launches ‘Ladder for London’ campaign to help reduce youth unemployment
The London Evening Standard has launched a new campaign, entitled ‘Ladder for London’, with the aim of raising awareness of and helping reduce the number of unemployed youths.
The London Evening Standard has partnered with Tower Hamlets social enterprise City Gateway for the project, which will encourage London businesses to take on trained apprentices.
The paper will be encouraging companies across the capital to appoint one or more apprentices over a year, who will be taken on having already completed a year of pre-apprentice training with City Gateway.
A spokesperson at City Gateway said: “We are proud to be working with London Evening Standard to support the capital’s young people and progress them into employment. This is a massive issue and with the London Evening Standard’s help we believe we can make a big difference to the capital’s young adults.”
Companies will be offered incentives such as a government-funded £1,500 grant and acknowledgement in the paper for taking on apprentices.
Sarah Sands, editor of the London Evening Standard, said: “The number of unemployed young people in our capital has reached shocking proportions not seen for a generation. With research revealing a lack of experience as the biggest obstacle to young people in getting jobs, London Evening Standard is proud to be pioneering the Ladder for London Apprenticeship Campaign as a solution, and we will be getting the ball rolling by taking on an apprentice ourselves. As London’s biggest newspaper we believe we are in a unique position to help drive social change with this campaign.”