Social mobility charity helps disadvantaged youth break work barriers

We introduce our Charity of the Year, LTSB.

For its Charity of the Year, Recruiter is partnering with a social mobility youth charity which helps give disadvantaged young people an entrance into a world of work they might never have thought they could enter.

After leaving college with poor A level grades and few employment prospects, Uzziel Sarpong (pictured above, far left) worked with his uncle as a plumber’s mate. He didn’t want to be a plumber, but thought manual work might be his only future.

Now, the 22-year-old is a digital analyst and associate at Capco, a global technology and business consultancy focused on the financial sector. It is a surprise even to himself he now works in a skyscraper in London’s Canary Wharf. Sarpong said: “I had travelled past Canary Wharf but never thought I would see inside the tall buildings. It’s quite something.”

Sarpong, who was brought up by his mother, a dinner lady, in the London Borough of Waltham Forest, credits his unexpected success to the intervention of Leadership Through Sport and Business (LTSB), hard work and a positive attitude.

He describes how the charity dedicated to helping bright young people from poorer backgrounds “definitely broke barriers” by introducing him to the corporate world. It was at a boot camp on digital skills in 2019 that he first met investment bankers and financial services executives. The youth employment charity runs industry specific courses (data and technology, business, contact centre, finance and customer adviser, marketing and law) and general skills, such as writing emails and public speaking.

Sarpong said: “One of the brilliant things about LTSB is that it stays in touch [with you], so I still meet a lot of great people. I have a mentor who is a chief technical officer. We are looking at how to position myself to get promotion.”

Sarpong, an only child, is the first member of his family to work in IT. Now his uncle, the plumber, is keen to switch careers to cybersecurity.

Recruiter is partnering LTSB as it works to address the shameful lack of social mobility in Britian. People in Britain’s top jobs are five times more likely to have attended a private school than the general population, according to research by the Sutton Trust. And 70% of internships are unpaid – locking out young people who cannot afford to work for free.

And of course the pandemic has exacerbated inequalities.

LTSB focuses on bright but disadvantaged young people and aims to give them the “relevant skills, tools and networks to thrive in the professional world”, explained CEO Rob Burton.

The goal is to narrow disadvantage gaps and “propel them” into well-paid apprenticeships at leading companies, including NatWest. The charity only works with employers who pay the National Living Wage.

Launched in 2012, LTSB is currently helping young people in London, Birmingham, Manchester, Liverpool and Edinburgh, with additional programmes in four other towns and cities, including Southend and Belfast.

To qualify for the scheme, applicants must be aged 16-24, have attended state schools and been eligible for free school meals. Some courses also require GCSEs. Pastoral care is key to the support provided and continues for at least a year.

It’s clearly an approach that works. To date, more than 1,400 young people from less advantaged backgrounds have attended courses run by LTSB and 71% were placed in employment.

Asked about the sports side of LTSB, Burton said there had been a “Covid-hiatus”, but the charity is reintroducing sport next year, including coaching qualifications, as a “fun way” of developing confidence and team spirit.

The programme costs about £3.5k per young person. Donations will help fund more young people, but the charity is also appealing for companies to reserve some entry level positions – and improve the social diversity of their workforce.

Burton said: “We know recruiters have a host of critical support staff roles in accountancy, business admin, marketing or digital and these are the positions our young people would thrive in.”

Recruiter editor DeeDee Doke said: “Each year, Recruiter chooses a charity to benefit from the generosity of our audience. The underlying criteria is that the charity must focus on getting people into work, reflecting the ethos of our industry. LTSB is an exciting example of an innovative approach to this work, and their social mobility challenge strikes at the heart of a pressing need in the UK.”

Image Credit | Simon O'Connor

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