Uxbridge College employment hub to help young people find jobs & apprenticeships

Young people in Hillingdon now have access to a new employment hub designed to help them find jobs, apprenticeships, training and support as they take their first steps into the world of work.

The new Future Start youth employment hub has officially opened at Uxbridge College, bringing together careers support, employers, training providers and Jobcentre Plus services under one roof.

The hub was officially opened earlier this month by Minister for Employment Andrew Western MP, with Job Coaches from local Jobcentres now permanently based at the college as part of a partnership with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

For students and young people looking for their first job, an apprenticeship or some help deciding what to do next, the new hub is intended to provide a more direct route into employment.

Future Start is a partnership involving Uxbridge College, the DWP, Hillingdon Chamber of Commerce, local employers, local authorities, education providers and community organisations.

The idea is to bring the different types of support young people may need together in one place.

Students and young people across Hillingdon can access help with everything from developing their skills and improving their confidence to finding suitable vacancies and preparing for recruitment.

Support available through the hub includes:

• Job matching and recruitment support
• Skills development and training
• Employer-sponsored personal development programmes
• Wellbeing and personal support
• Help finding employment and apprenticeships
• In-work mentoring

Having Job Coaches permanently based at the college should also make it easier for students to get employment advice without having to navigate the job market completely on their own.

For someone who isn't sure what career they want, needs help with an application or simply doesn't know where to start, that support could be particularly useful.

The hub is also intended to help young people progress into apprenticeships and further training, rather than viewing getting a job as the only measure of success.

That could be particularly important for students who know they want to start working but aren't sure whether an apprenticeship, further education or a traditional job is the right route for them.

Although the hub is based in Uxbridge, Future Start is intended to support young people across Hillingdon.

The college itself already provides a wide range of routes into further education and employment, including A-Levels, vocational courses, T-Levels, higher education and apprenticeships.

Following the merger of Harrow College, Richmond upon Thames College and Uxbridge College in 2023, HRUC now supports almost 15,000 learners across west and south London.

The group also has a strong apprenticeship programme and supports more than 850 learners with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), including through tailored programmes and internships.

The new Future Start hub adds another layer of employment support, helping to connect education with what comes next.

Commenting on the initiative, Executive Director for Business Growth and Partnerships at HRUC, Jo Withers, said: “The Future Start hub is an exciting new addition to our Uxbridge College campus, providing a vital link between education and employment and helping to transform outcomes for young people in Hillingdon.”

“We’re excited to work with the DWP, Hillingdon Chamber of Commerce, local authorities and other organisations to help young people overcome the barriers to finding a job. The hub will help to ensure that more young people are progressing into employment with the skills and confidence they need to excel in the workplace,” added Ms Withers.

The Minister for Employment also commented at the opening event, saying: “At the Future Start hub, it’s fantastic to see the integration between education, skills provision and employment support, making support provisions accessible to people in one place. It can be intimidating if you don’t know what to do, who to reach out to or even what sort of help it is that you need. So having it all here in one place in such a beautiful facility is really exciting.”

“The Future Start hub here in Hillingdon and the 360 others that the government are going to create around the country are absolutely crucial to giving young people the connections, the confidence and the support they need to be able to get into education, employment or training. Here today I’ve met not just college staff, but local employers, people from the charitable sector and other partners who are all pulling together along with DWP colleagues to be able to give young people the help they need.”

“This partnership is all about helping young people into work and looking at the barriers that they perhaps face to doing that. The youth hub exists to provide that one-stop shop support so that those barriers can be removed and whatever they want to do, their future’s not narrow, it’s as big and bright as anyone else’s,” added Mr Western.

The launch comes as the Government continues its Youth Guarantee programme, which aims to ensure young people have access to opportunities to learn, train or find employment.

With nearly one million young people currently not in education, employment or training, finding effective ways of helping people make that transition is becoming increasingly important.