The Department for Education has announced today that £2.5million will be invested in 18 new and two expanded careers hubs.

This follows on from the launch by the Careers and Enterprise Company (CEC) of the first 20 careers hubs in September 2018.

The hubs are estimated to benefit just over 1,300 secondary schools and colleges, with the aim of improving careers support for young people. 

According to the CEC, the first wave of careers hubs are outperforming the national average across all aspects of careers education, with 58 per cent of hubs providing every student with a regular interaction with employers, and 52 per cent offering the students the opportunity of workplace experience. 

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Careers hubs: ‘transformative effect’

Carolyn Fairbairn, the director general of the CBI, said that “just four employer interactions has a transformative effect, making a pupil five times less likely to be out of work as an adult”.

Research from the CEC has shown improvements for students within the hubs in disadvantaged areas, particularly in Lancashire, the Black Country and the Liverpool City Region. 

Education secretary, Damian Hinds said: “Careers hubs bring together schools, colleges, universities and employers to share their expertise and improve the careers education on offer to make sure young people have the information they need to make the most of their talents.

“Today’s investment will give thousands more young people access to expert careers guidance as they take those first exciting steps into their future.”

Claudia Harris, chief executive of the CEC, said: “Careers education is improving across the country. The accelerated progress we’re seeing in the first wave of careers hubs shows that this model is working and delivering for young people, with schools and colleges in this first wave of careers hubs already outperforming the national average across all aspects of careers education.”

Locations of the new careers hubs

•    Black Country
•    Liverpool
•    Tees Valley 
•    Leeds (SEND hub)
•    Solent
•    West of England
•    Birmingham
•    Thames Valley Berkshire
•    North East (x2) 
•    Dorset
•    Swindon and Wiltshire 
•    SEMLEP (Bedford)
•    Hertfordshire
•    Heart of the South West (Somerset and Devon)
•    D2N2 (Nottingham)
•    Solihull
•    Coventry
•    Warwickshire
•    Oxfordshire