YOUNG people struggling to find work in West Berkshire have been thrown a lifeline.
A local charitable organisation has secured Government funding of up to £420,000, to support the creation of up to 70 jobs in the public sector, for 18 to 24-year-olds.
The West Berkshire Training Consortium (WBTC), based in Cheap Street, Newbury, is one of many organisations in Britain to have applied to the Department of Work and Pensions for a Future Jobs Fund earlier this year.
The fund was created by the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Alistair Darling in his last budget as a way of helping stimulate the economy after it crashed.
Janice Powell, director of development and quality at the WBTC said she was delighted with the success of their bid.
“We put in an application to create up to 70 jobs in West Berkshire over the next year for young people to get them back into employment and update their skills,” she explained, adding that some of the jobs would be created at West Berkshire Council, while others would be at the Consortium.
She added: “We have to train people slowly over the next year. The first point is to get them into a job, alongside that we propose to give them some apprenticeship training so when they get six months through they have a qualification.
“It is our aim that we want to try to help them to achieve a qualification in as quick a time as possible so they feel their life has changed and they have a future.”
The WBTC does not stand to receive funds as such, but once it, or the council, has created job posts the Department of Work and Pensions will release the funding to subsidise that post.
To be eligible for one of the positions created, the young person must have been in receipt of Job Seekers Allowance for “approaching one year” as a minimum, said Ms Powell.
The WBTC was created 26 years ago by the Newbury District Council as a local charity to help local young people find work with training.