Youth unemployment will rise in Richmond following the closure of a careers advice service, it has been claimed.

Connexions, which offered careers information, advice and guidance to teenagers, has closed its doors for the final time, due to Government funding cuts.

Angela Gray, former manager of the Twickenham branch, which helped young people with CVs, interview skills and university choices for the past 11 years, said youngsters now had no comparable service where they could seek advice.

She said: “Myself and my former colleagues are very concerned about what is going to happen to these young people needing our expert help now that we are no longer there to serve them.

“This will sadly have the knock-on effect of creating more youth unemployment.”

The service, run under contract from six south London council’s, including Richmond Council, by consultancy CfBT Educational Trust, was closed on Monday, July 4, leaving unemployed young people in Richmond facing an uncertain future.

The Government announced in summer 2010 it would be partially cutting its grant for Connexions, with the money reduced even further at the beginning of this year when the Early Intervention Grant was introduced.

This grant was no longer ringfenced, resulting in Richmond Council cutting its funding for Connexions.

Councillor Malcolm Eady, Richmond’s Liberal Democrat education spokesman, said: “The contract with CfBT has broken down, but the council still has a budget for the service, so I call on the council to quickly make sure that career advisers are in place when the exam results are published in six to seven weeks time.

“We should then, if necessary working independently of the other boroughs, make sure we have an advice service in place for the next academic year, so that young people in our schools and colleges get good independent advice when they are selecting courses for the next part of their education.”

Although a new careers service has been proposed by the Government, it is not due to be implemented until September 2012.

Councillor Christine Percival, Richmond Council cabinet member for education, youth and children’s services, said: “Richmond Council still has a statutory duty to provide careers information and advice for young people with learning difficulties or disabilities (up to the age of 25) and will continue to provide strategic support to enable schools to appoint the providers that will best meet their needs in the future.

“Until the national careers service commences, many of the other services previously provided by Connexions will be delivered in a completely different way through existing resources and staff.”

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