York businesses reminded about apprenticeship support

City of York Council’s Apprenticeship team is reminding local businesses that they can get help and support – including financial – if they are planning to take on apprentices this September.

Apprenticeships continue to play a significant role in supporting the city’s economic recovery from the covid 19 pandemic, with 730 new apprenticeships started in York from June ‘21 to January ‘22.

A total of 79 of these were in the council and local authority maintained schools, which is an increase of 49 per cent in the last six months.

The authority has also agreed support for 27 apprentices in nine other organisations across the city, committing £160,000 of support through the Apprenticeship Levy Scheme.

This national initiative enables larger employers to transfer unspent apprenticeship levy onto other businesses or partner organisations, enabling the funding to remain local, benefitting smaller organisations and enhancing the pool of skilled workers in the city.

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City launches new ‘early years’ recruitment campaign

City of York Council is working with early years and childcare partners across the city to launch a new campaign to recruit more people into the early years sector.

Like many other areas across the country, York has seen a drop in the number of people coming into the early years profession in recent years. It’s a trend that partners hope will be reversed by the new social media campaign.

Cllr Ian Cuthbertson, the council’s Executive Member for Children, Young People and Education, explained: Working in the early years sector really is more than just a job. It gives people a unique opportunity to help to shape the lives of future generations of children in York.

There are so many different roles within the sector, including childminding, nursery worker, or working in a school setting, many of which provide flexible working and career progression. I’d really encourage anyone who is thinking about entering the profession for the first time, or those who are thinking about returning after a break, to go for it. It’s so much more rewarding than an ‘ordinary job’.”

Benefits of working in the early years sector include:

• the wide variety of roles available, from childminding to preschool teaching, nursery worker to out of school support
• the chance to develop and use transferable skills
• flexible hours available
• great career progression opportunities
• chance to make a real difference to the lives of the children you work with
• every day is different

To find out more about working in early years and the opportunities in York visit www.york.gov.uk/WorkInYorkEarlyYears

60 employers and training providers at latest York Job Fair

York Jobs Fair is returning on 23 March, with anyone looking for work or some support into training or employment invited to attend the event.

From 10am to 2pm at York Railway Institute around 60 local employers and training providers will be on hand at to talk about the employment opportunities they have available. These include Sainsbury’s, The Grand Hotel, Cineworld and NatWest.

Funded by City of York Council and organised by York Learning in partnership with Job Centre Plus, this latest job fair brings together employers, employment support agencies, and education and training providers to offer local people job opportunities, information and advice.

Cllr Keith Aspden, Leader of City of York Council said:

The York Job Fairs are always hugely popular both with employers and prospective employees and I’m delighted at how much they’ve grown since 2012, when the first such event was organised in York.

“The event is a great opportunity for anyone at the start of their working life, people who are looking for a career change or those looking for new local opportunities. I’d encourage anyone who’s looking to further their career to come along and see the many opportunities on offer.”

Find out more about York Jobs Fair on the York Learning website.

For more information on opportunities to learn, earn and grow by developing your skills, on the Council’s website.

Ten year skill strategy sets out vision for York’s future workforce

City of York Council’s Executive will be asked to demonstrate the council’s support to York’s new 10 year skill strategy later this month (17 March).

Created by the city’s Skills and Employment Board, of which the council is a key partner, the strategy sets out the steps needed to achieve a city workforce that is equipped with the skills needed, not only to weather the storms of economic shocks such as a global pandemic, but to thrive and support future sustainable growth.

The vision for the strategy: ‘Pioneering provision aligned to the needs of the city, its people and its businesses developed and delivered in partnership to support economic growth and attract, retain and develop talent’ is underpinned by eight principles which place people, businesses, partnerships, technology and the city’s net zero ambitions at the heart of the strategy.

Priorities for the medium term (two-five years) include:

• York works – skills support for individuals – working within and across communities to provide access to skills for employment and self-employment for all
• Empowered employers – skills support for businesses – supporting local businesses to increase productivity and build resilience through training and upskilling their workforce
• Pioneering provision – productive partnerships – working in partnership to create a flexible city-wide skills system that responds to local needs
• Education to employment and self-employment – York’s pipeline – ensuring a pipeline of talent that meets business needs and attracts, trains, retains and retrains people in the city, through high-quality provision and a culture of lifelong learning

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Council aims to ‘Break the Bias’ and empower women in business

City of York Council is co-organising a networking event in York with Natwest for women involved in business on March 22, 2022.

In celebration of Women’s History Month and International Women’s Day on March 8, the council is partnering with Natwest to host ‘Break the Bias’ – the first of a series of networking events that aim to inspire and empower women to either start or scale their business.

The event will be held on Tuesday, March 22, 2022 from 12 pm to 2 pm at York Marriott Hotel, Tadcaster Road, York YO24 1QQ and will highlight the wide range of services offered to women in York who want to start, run and grow a business.

The participants will hear from inspirational speaker, Sarah Hannett – Founder of Dewcy who will talk about her business journey; researching, developing and growing her skincare brand DEWCY. There will be an opportunity to engage with Sarah Hannett during a Q&A session.

The event will also allow participants to learn about the available business support that York businesses can access from City of York Council, Natwest and the Aspire2lead programme.

The networking event welcomes women business owners, senior managers and women thinking about starting a business in York. Interested participants can find more information about the event and register here for free.

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York’s Quarterly Economic Update shows signs of positive recovery

The Council’s Quarterly Economic Update, discussed at a meeting earlier today, has highlighted a positive trend in the ongoing recovery across the city since October 2021.

Despite national economic challenges, business activity and consumer demand continues to be strong in York, with the city centre attracting 2.1m visitors between October and December. The Centre for Cities’ high streets recovery tracker shows that up till the end of November, York’s footfall index and spend index was the second and third highest of any city and large town in the UK.

The report also highlights that York’s economy is expected to continue to grow. Oxford Economics’ latest forecast suggests that York’s economy was one of the best performing in 2021, with its gross value added (GVA) estimated to have grown 9.8% year-on-year, with a further 6% growth expected in 2022.

The Council has continued to support businesses across the City during this period. In November, the Business Growth Voucher Scheme was launched, which allows local businesses to access up to £1,000 of expertise and support from other businesses across the city – not only helping those in receipt of the vouchers, but also generating income for other local businesses. The scheme has been a major success, with 550 small and micro businesses applying for the scheme and over 140 York-based businesses being approved as suppliers.

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York Council celebrates success of Connect over Coffee initiative

The council is running ‘Connect over Coffee’, a bi-monthly business support forum to connect and support York businesses.

The last 19 months have changed the way businesses operate, interact and network. The shift to working remotely not only restricted networking opportunities but also created unprecedented challenges and questions for many businesses.

Connect over Coffee sessions first began in May 2020, hosted by Louise Saw, the council’s Business Growth Manager. They were created as a response to the various challenges faced by York’s business community during the COVID-19 pandemic. Since then, over 36 meetings have taken place with 130 different businesses participating, and many returning for regular attendance.

The business support forum continues to meet twice a month, usually every second and fourth Wednesday of the month via a mixture of Zoom and in-person events. Free tickets to the meetings can be booked online.

Each Connect over Coffee session starts with a special guest speaker talking about a chosen support topic. The meeting is then followed by an open discussion where attendees are encouraged to share their views and experiences with fellow businesses to build and develop an effective peer-to-peer support system. The sessions conclude with a Zoom breakout room which allows businesses to network.

Connect over Coffee meetings aim to provide businesses with a collaborative and inclusive safe-space to discuss and address their challenges. Previous speaker themes have included:

• sales
• marketing and social media
• search engine optimisation
• skills
• start-up support
• research and development tax credits
• investment
• human resources
• furlough
• legal
• data protection
• working remotely

Adam Gill, Creative Director at Vidaveo, said:

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Unemployed numbers down in York

A meeting next week will hear that unemployed numbers in York are continuing to reduce.

Despite nearly 2,500 people remaining on furlough as the CJRS closed, the claimant count for York in both October and November continued to decrease.

According to the Office for National Statistics (ONS), the number of people claiming out of work benefits in York was 3,105 in November which is considerably less than the peak of 2021 when there were 4,925 claimants in February.

Although we have not returned to pre-pandemic levels, when 1,820 people were claimants in March 2020, York remains the best performing city on the Centre for Cities unemployment tracker with just 2.2% of its working-age population claiming unemployment-related benefits.

The reports do not cover the December/January period when there was a spike in coronavirus case numbers (and some additional restrictions)

The City Centre economy performed well during the autumn benefiting for a large number of “long distance, high spending” visitors.

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Council to support and celebrate young entrepreneur community

City of York Council is set to organise a Young Entrepreneurs Evening on Thursday 3rd February 2022 from 6 to 7 pm.

The virtual event will bring together young entrepreneurs based in York to hear from some of the city’s most successful business leaders and understand the support on offer in the York area.

The event is free to attend and aims to celebrate and support the young entrepreneur community in York. Interested participants can register for the Young Entrepreneurs Evening here.

The programme will kick-start with attendees hearing from Cllr Ashley Mason, Sheriff of York and Cllr Andrew Waller, Executive Member for Economy and Strategic Planning at City of York Council on the importance of entrepreneurship in the city.

This will be followed by a 30-minute interactive Q&A session facilitated by Sam Hields, Senior Investment Associate at OpenOcean. The panellists involved in this session are –
•    Lee Grabham – Co-founder & Production Director, Brew York,
•    Casey Woodward – Founder & Chief Executive, AgriSound
•    Bethany Watrous – Director & Lead Digital Archaeologist, Experience Heritage

Attendees will then also have the opportunity to meet York’s Enterprise Support Providers to understand the support available for young entrepreneurs in York. This session will be delivered by –
•    Andrew Raby – Growth Hub Manager, York & North Yorkshire Growth Hub
•    Alice Ingram – Business Advisor, Ad:Venture Programme
•    Brian Littlejohn – Growth Manager, City of York Council

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Civil Service careers in York – Q&A

Thursday 18th November 12:00 noon

On line event. Free

With hundreds of Civil Service careers available in York, there are a huge range of roles available for anyone looking to begin a career with the Civil Service, at any level.

It is expected that over 2000 government jobs could be created on the York central site (behind the railway station

Hear more about the opportunities in York now, and why York has been chosen as a hub for the Cabinet Office.

This talk will include a Q&A session to answer your questions you might have about Civil Service careers.

Join Angela MacDonald, second Permanent Secretary at HMRC, to learn about her career and the opportunities available in the Civil Service.

About this event

Learn about the benefits and opportunities of working in the Civil Service in York.

Who is Angela?

Angela became HM Revenue and Customs (HMRC) Deputy Chief Executive and Second Permanent Secretary in August 2020. In this role she is responsible for leading 50,000 colleagues and is accountable for transforming change and implementing government policy of a modern, digital tax system.

In her 30 year long career Angela has experience of service delivery, transformation and change in both the public and private sector. This includes a number of operational, sales and marketing roles at Aviva plc and its legacy companies.

What will this session cover?

During this session Angela will talk about her civil service career, what it’s like to be a senior Civil Servant, the benefits of Civil Service careers and opportunities for roles in York.

The talk will include:

• Angela’s career history and how she became a Civil Servant
• What the levelling up agenda means for York and the new Civil Service job opportunities in the city
• What a ‘modern Civil Service’ means, and the future for the Civil Service
• The York Cabinet Office
• Q&A

Who should attend?

Are you looking for your next step? Or to start a new career? Thinking about a different role? Always wanted to work in York but can’t find the right role?

Click to register