Over 100 Unemployed Young People in the West Midlands Upskilled Through Rigby Foundation Partnership

Over the past 12 months, more than 100 young unemployed people from the West Midlands have completed a Skills Bootcamp programme to help them into work, including tech careers, thanks to a pioneering partnership between The Rigby Foundation and skills charity Generation UK.

In 2023, The Rigby Foundation, chaired by Steve Rigby, committed £600,000 over three years to support unemployed 18–24-year-olds in the region into skilled careers through Generation UK’s life-changing bootcamps.

One year on, that funding has already helped over 100 young people develop skills in areas such as cloud and data engineering and technology, green energy and health and social care. Participants come from across the West Midlands, including those from Walsall, Wolverhampton and Birmingham, where youth unemployment is currently double the national average.

Generation UK has an impressive track record. 65% of learners are placed in jobs within six months of completing the bootcamp, and the average starting salary for those learners is around £25,000 per year.

Steve Rigby, Chair of The Rigby Foundation, said: “The Trustees of The Rigby Foundation are committed to helping our region’s young unemployed. Generation UK has a great track record of delivering life changing bootcamps for young people facing barriers to employment, and our funding is ensuring many more local youngsters have a chance to participate and hopefully secure a meaningful job.

“We are delighted our partnership has got off to such a great start. Already over 100 local young people have benefited from Generation UK support over the past 12 months. We look forward to hearing many more success stories over the next two years as our Foundation’s three year commitment progresses.”

Michael Houlihan, CEO of Generation UK, said: “Unemployment is a national problem and the West Midlands has more than 130,000 unemployed people at the moment - 26,000 are between 18 and 24 years old. The challenge of getting young people into work is complicated – some groups face distinctly more barriers to employment than others. At the same time, the cost of living is soaring and social mobility has stagnated for years.

“We are committed to solving these challenges by supporting those facing barriers into life-changing and otherwise inaccessible work, through bootcamp training with wrap-around support. The Rigby Foundation funding is giving youngsters who face all sorts of barriers, a chance to build a life for themselves that is positive.”

Aside from the funding provided by The Rigby Foundation, SCC, Rigby Group’s cornerstone IT service provider and a leading business in the West Midlands, is supporting young people on the programme by hosting employability skills events where SCC employees share their career journeys, provide advice on CVs and carry out interview training.