{"id":57981,"date":"2026-03-02T17:18:24","date_gmt":"2026-03-02T17:18:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/?p=57981"},"modified":"2026-03-02T17:18:43","modified_gmt":"2026-03-02T17:18:43","slug":"lib-dem-urges-skills-over-certificates-to-tackle-sheffields-youth-unemployment","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/2026\/03\/02\/lib-dem-urges-skills-over-certificates-to-tackle-sheffields-youth-unemployment\/","title":{"rendered":"Lib Dem urges skills over certificates to tackle Sheffield\u2019s youth unemployment"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

A Sheffield councillor says that qualifications are holding young people back and is calling for apprenticeship reform to tackle the rise of youth unemployment.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Barbara Masters, 75, a Liberal Democrat Councillor for Ecclesall, has argued that there is too much emphasis on the younger generation needing traditional qualifications and is calling for a significant change to the apprenticeship scheme to meet the needs of local employers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This comes after the Level Seven apprenticeship scheme was stopped in January, preventing the funding of apprenticeships for learners aged 22 and over.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cllr Masters said: \u201cSo many are disadvantaged because they can\u2019t get their maths and English qualifications, it worries me.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThen we see people starting to turn to other things such as criminality.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The south-west Sheffield representative believes that to help young people have a stronger chance at employment, there must be more opportunities provided to start training them for jobs and giving them the skills that they need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

She said: \u201cYoung people who are brilliant at working with engines can\u2019t get a manual job because of an English qualification, it\u2019s holding people back.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Sheffield Council’s skills and culture policy committee is focused on finding new opportunities for apprenticeship schemes and creating a framework for businesses to give the younger generation a chance.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

This includes finding an alternative to the changes of the Level Seven apprenticeship scheme and finding a way to change how employers view our youths’ abilities.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cllr Masters said: \u201cEmployers just do not want to take the risk, they would in the past but now they cannot afford to.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

However, she reassured that the committee is committed to dealing with these problems.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\"\"
Cllr Barbara Masters<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The wage subsidy scheme is in place, which helps fund the job roles of 16-30 year olds in businesses under the programme to give them the skill development they need.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But, new employees must last at least six months which can be difficult and business owners still see it as a risk due to the significant increase in training costs, according to the south-west Sheffield councillor.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

It now costs a business around \u00a3700 to train a new worker up for a job role and, with the lack of apprenticeship skills young adults are being offered, they are simply choosing to hire more experienced workers.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Young people are also lacking these required grades due to the Covid-19 pandemic and hirers aren\u2019t taking this into consideration.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Cllr Masters advised that young adults do not sit at home applying for jobs but go to shops, caf\u00e9\u2019s and businesses to put themselves out there and speak to employers.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

A Sheffield councillor says that qualifications are holding young people back and is calling for apprenticeship reform to tackle the rise of youth unemployment. Barbara Masters, 75, a Liberal Democrat Councillor for Ecclesall, has argued that there is too much emphasis on the younger generation needing traditional qualifications and is calling for a significant change […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":281,"featured_media":57987,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_et_pb_use_builder":"","_et_pb_old_content":"","_et_gb_content_width":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[137,152,159,5,10,132,166],"tags":[1106,135,1105,1120,12,55],"class_list":["post-57981","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-council","category-council-2","category-education-2","category-news","category-politics","category-top-stories","category-top-story-2","tag-sheffieldeducatio","tag-sheffieldnews","tag-youthunemployment","tag-liberal-democrats","tag-sheffield","tag-sheffield-city-council"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57981","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/281"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=57981"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57981\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":58092,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/57981\/revisions\/58092"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/57987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=57981"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=57981"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shef-live.co.uk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=57981"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}