More than 8,000 people in Lancashire need career advice

Leading charity and employability skills expert across Lancashire Inspira is offering anyone struggling career advice.

Mark Bowman, Chief Executive of Inspira said: "The pressure for people to find well-paid employment and sometimes second jobs and the pressures employers are facing to recruit and retain staff is causing a unique situation.

"It’s certainly not a situation I have encountered in over 25 years working in Careers and Employability."

With Inspira’s team working across North-West England, more than 8,000 people in Lancashire access their services each year.

The service provides free professional advice and guidance on how to help people develop the skills they need to secure better employment.

He added: "Many employers have had a difficult time recruiting staff as we have emerged from the pandemic. Many people have re-evaluated working lives and working practices in many organisations have changed.

"We need to do everything we can to nurture the talent that we have available.

"Even though unemployment is relatively low, people who haven’t been in work for a while need significant support.

"These are often “hidden unemployed”, those who are not working but don’t show in unemployment figures due to a variety of reasons, often health related. Helping this group to contribute to the economy requires significant, and often specialist, support.

"We offer careers advice to young people at key transition points, often using innovative programmes to connect employers with education and ultimately young people. This approach gives an ideal opportunity to prepare the future workforce for what lies ahead.

"It’s vital that this type of work continues. Businesses, organisations, individuals of all ages and all backgrounds, the UK economy, and charities like Inspira, depend on it, and the recruitment issues we are seeing today will only be the tip of the iceberg without it."

More than 21,000 people from Lancashire and Cumbria access Inspira’s services each year.

The charity works with employers, local economic partnerships, councils and a range of organisations across the North-West to deliver comprehensive programmes, solve local skills shortages, invest in young people and help reduce unemployment numbers in targeted areas.

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