In a GOV.UK announcement, the Department for Work and Pensions said a new Youth Hub has opened in Rossendale for young people aged 16 to 24 who need support into work, training or education. The model is intended to bring several services into one local offer, so that young people do not have to move between separate organisations to access practical help. The Rossendale hub will run from the Adrenaline Centre in Haslingden on Mondays and from Rossendale Borough Council Business Centre at Futures Park, Bacup, on Wednesdays and Thursdays. The published offer includes CV support, careers guidance, skills training, mental health support and housing advice.
The opening places Rossendale within the government’s wider Youth Hub expansion across Great Britain. According to the Department for Work and Pensions, the programme is intended to support the nearly one million young people who are not in education, employment or training, often shortened in policy documents to NEET. For policy professionals, the main point is the delivery model rather than the building alone. Youth Hubs are meant to bring together Jobcentre Plus, local authority services, training providers and employers, creating a single local entry point for support that would otherwise be spread across different agencies.
Ministers have said each hub in the national network will be expected to meet a set of minimum standards. In practice, that means young people should be able to access on-site jobcentre support alongside help with housing, mental health, skills, training and careers, as well as contact with employers offering current vacancies and apprenticeships. That structure reflects a well-established problem in youth employment policy: barriers to work rarely appear one at a time. A young person may need stable housing, better wellbeing or clearer training options before a job search becomes realistic, and the hub model is meant to address those pressures together rather than through a series of separate referrals.
According to the government statement, the Rossendale offer will be delivered with local partners including WorkWell, Citizens Advice, Rossendale Borough Council and Active Lancashire’s Rossendale Works programme. In comments accompanying the launch, council leader Alyson Barnes also referred to collaboration with Burnley College and other local organisations. The local partnership matters because national policy only works if it can be translated into services people can actually reach and use. By operating across Haslingden and Bacup, the hub should reduce some of the travel and access pressures that can prevent younger residents from engaging with support at an early stage.
The opening also sits within the government’s Youth Guarantee, backed by £2.5 billion and described by ministers as a commitment to ensure every young person has a route to earn or learn. The Department for Work and Pensions said Youth Hubs will continue to roll out in every local area across Great Britain over the next three years, with places from Manchester and Salford to Dundee and Newport cited as part of the wider programme. For councils, colleges, jobcentres and local employers, that creates a more defined framework for delivery. The expectation is not limited to careers advice; it extends to a joined-up service in which employment support, training provision and wider public services are expected to operate in step.
Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden presented the Rossendale opening as part of a national effort to bring opportunity closer to where young people live. Barnes, speaking for Rossendale Borough Council, placed similar weight on confidence, accessibility and the need to connect young people with employers, training providers and support services in the same setting. For residents, the immediate effect is practical rather than abstract: there is now a named local service running on fixed days, with a clearer route into advice, training and work-related support. For the wider Youth Guarantee, the Rossendale hub is also an early test of whether national minimum standards can produce a credible local offer for 16 to 24-year-olds facing more than one barrier to employment.