Visiting the House of Lords during Youth Employment Week

Our young adult carer interns, Elena and Teni, share their experiences of the launch event of the Youth Employment Toolkit at the House of Lords last week, hosted by the Youth Futures Foundation who fund our internship programme here at Carers Trust.

Our Experience

Last Wednesday 5th July, we attended the launch of the Youth Employment Toolkit, presented by the Youth Futures Foundation (YFF), at the House of Lords’ Terrace Pavilion. We joined charities in celebrating the outcomes of global research into the barriers preventing young people from entering employment, and how to overcome them. We had a great time. 

In the beautiful terrace room Lord Woolley of Woodford presented the launch; a passionate individual who works on topics relating to equality, diversity and social justice. It was a privilege and inspiration to interact with him. We also enjoyed speaking with members of the YFF, the attending companies, and were very happy to see that there were many young people, both present, and involved in the research itself. The YFF’s Ambassador and speaker Sam gave a powerful speech at the beginning of the event on the significance of helping young people with employment. This is what all work that impacts young people should be like. It was interesting to hear about the work being done and how passionate they were about giving young people the opportunity to become their best selves. 

We learnt that the efforts from the government and employers to increase youth employment rates were developing, which gave us hope that young people would eventually secure a place in their preferred role with the right amount of effort and support. We also learnt that employment mentoring is not as effective on its own – this was surprising as a lot of employment work advocates for it. Yet this finding presents the fact that mentoring on its own does not automatically result in success. Rather it allows young people to apply what they learn through mentoring practically. 

We are grateful to have met such lovely passionate people and to advocate on behalf of young unpaid carers. It will be exciting to see the trajectory that follows with the use of this new Youth Employment Toolkit. 

To conclude, as it was one of our first experiences in Parliament it was wonderful to have this opportunity. It's a highlight of our internships and a moment we will remember later in our lives.