Businesses and organisations in the Walsall area have pledged to take practical steps towards reducing youth unemployment in the region and forging fairer, more accessible routes into work.
The commitments, which focus on addressing barriers to employment and generating work experience opportunities for local young people, were made as part of The Fairer Futures Employer Roundtable which took place on the 28th of July.
Hosted by The Midcounties Co-operative and Birmingham-based social enterprise, Miss Macaroon, in partnership with West Midlands Combined Authority and Walsall Council, the event explored how youth unemployment and health-related economic inactivity in Walsall can and should be tackled.
Alongside the organisers, participants included representatives from local businesses and organisations such as Walsall College, Vine Trust Group, Atkins Realis, Severn Trent, Walsall FC Foundation, and Walsall Housing Group. Three graduates from The Fairer Futures Programme – the initiative run by The Midcounties Co-operative and Miss Macaroon to help support young people in the area into work – also joined the discussion to share their lived experiences with the group. Since launching in May 2023, more than 65 young people have been supported by the initiative.
The roundtable discussed how taster days, work experience placements, mentorship, flexible start expectations, and regular check-ins can work towards inclusive recruitment and improved retention levels for employers.
Azhar, customer service assistant at The Midcounties Co-operative and Fairer Futures graduate, said: “Support at work helped me grow. Knowing that I had time and space to speak at work if I was stressed out helped me to learn the job and become more confident.”
Phil Ponsonby, CEO at The Midcounties Co-operative, pledged to continue offering employment pathways for Fairer Futures graduates as well as supporting the next phase of the programme through employer engagement, mentoring, and in-store paid work opportunities.
Based in The Midcounties Co-operative Food store in Walsall town centre, Fairer Futures is an innovative programme that offers personalised support, counselling, 1-2-1 mentoring, training and work experience to young people with disabilities, lone parents, those who are neurodiverse, have mental health issues or learning differences, or have been in touch with the criminal justice system.
Talking about the event, Phil said: “As a co-operative, fairness is at the heart of all we do and championing a more inclusive employment environment is really important to us. That’s why we’re so pleased to have hosted this roundtable event. Hearing from Azhar, Leona and Luke, graduates from our Fairer Futures programme, was invaluable in understanding how to make changes that matter, and we’d like to thank everyone else that got involved in the event too.”
Rosie Ginday MBE, Miss Macaroon CEO, said: “We’re so pleased with how our roundtable event went – it was great to chair such a productive conversation around employment equality, helping to hold ourselves and other local businesses and organisations accountable to reducing barriers to employment within Walsall. The event was also a good opportunity to appreciate the success of our Fairer Futures programme so far and look to what the future holds for the initiative as it looks to its next phase, supporting even more people in the community into work.”
