The Teacake Club gathered on Thursday 21 May 2026 at Sheffield Futures. Ross Brown, Contract Manager at Opportunity Sheffield welcomed everybody to the Spring Meeting and thanked the venue team.

View the whole slideshow here:

Speakers

Sheffield Futures

Chris Hood – CEO

Charmaine Myers – Service Manager

Chris welcomed us all to Star House, where Sheffield Futures are based, before introducing Charmaine.

Charmaine explained the main focus of Sheffield Futures: to reach, onboard and support 16-24 year old NEETS, to reduce the barriers they face in employability.

Sheffield Futures are supporting the Summer Job Programme to provide 35 young people with five-week paid work placements.

The Employability Project run through the Opportunity Sheffield Pathways programme, helps young people improve their employability, through 1-2-1 support and group sessions, to gain employment.

To find out more, visit the Sheffield Futures website.

PA Champions

Seirian Davies – Personal Assistant Champion

Seirian talked about the Personal Assistant (PA) Programme that supports people with disabilities and additional needs to live fulfilling lives.

More PA’s are needed and Seirian explained the benefits of becoming a PA (Paid work, flexible hours, varied activities, no need for qualifications or experience).

PAs have to ‘wear many hats’ because the kinds of day-to-day jobs can range from personal care, to tidying their home, taking them on days out. However, personal care isn’t always a part of the job.

The PA Champions can provide support for prospective PAs with training, information, completing the application and more.

Seirian provided an overview of the online PA register. Here PAs can create their own profile page and search for work.

PAs can look at the requirements such as whether they need a car, what the hours are and whether they will be supporting an adult or child. PA work can be flexible, with many part-time roles available that can work around studies or other commitments.

To find out more, download the slideshow at the top of this page or visit the PA Champions website.

Department for Work & Pensions

Jennifer Marsden – Partnership Manager

Louise Stocks – Partnership Manager

John Casey – Employer Engagement Advisor

Jennifer and Louise spoke about the DWP offer of three-month paid childcare for clients on Universal Credit who gain employment or gain more hours when in employment.

Currently there is a lack of take up by clients, so DWP would like Teacake Club members to make this known to clients it may apply to. The childcare costs are paid up front, and its vital clients communicate early with their work coach as the fund cannot be used retrospectively.

John spoke on DWP’s offer of work experience placements, aimed particularly at young adults giving them a chance to gain experience and improve their CV. Clients can come with an agreed employer and DWP will carry out the relevant checks and paperwork.

If any organisation would like to offer a work experience placement, DWP would love to hear from you.

There will be further initiatives coming out over the next few months to help address the youth unemployment issue.

To find out more, download the slideshow at the top of this page or visit the DWP website.

Sheffield City Council

Terry Mitchell – Apprenticeship and Work Based Learning Development Manager

Terry and the team support both candidates and employers to deliver apprenticeships. Sheffield City Council have regular apprenticeship roles, but these are highly oversubscribed.

Terry and his team can help clients and providers navigate the application process to give candidates the best possible chance of success. Vacancies among the Housing, Libraries and Parks teams will all be coming out soon.

Terry also mentioned the Thrive pre-apprenticeship programme for NEETs. It’s a five-week health and wellbeing course aimed at 19-24-year-olds.

The Environmental Stewardship Programme is for 16-18 year old NEETs and provides maths and English provision along with work placements with Amey, working on community projects and parks.

To find out more about Thrive, visit the Pathways to Work website.

To find out more about Apprenticeships, download the slideshow or visit the Sheffield City Council website.

RE:GEN Academy

Beth McNaught – Learner Engagement Officer

Lyndsey Martin – Learner Engagement Officer

Beth and Lyndsey from The Regen Academy spoke about their new pilot project in Sheffield, the Single Parents Initiative, which seeks to support single parents and those with barriers into work in the ‘Green’ and construction industry.

It’s a five-week course starting 10 June, running 10am to 2pm each day at Sheffield City Council’s Career Development Centre on Cricket Inn Road. They are open for referrals.

To find out more, download the slideshow or visit the RE:GEN Academy website.

UK Youth

Candy Marsh – Employer Engagement Manager

Candy from UK Youth spoke about the Summer Jobs Programme, taking place in conjunction with Sheffield Futures from 20 July to 3 August 2026.

It is a six-week programme for 35 young people aged 16-20 with barriers living in Sheffield, which will give them a five-week supported work placement with employers, being paid a living wage.

The young people have been recruited, but they are still looking for more employers if anyone can help.

To find out more about The Summer Jobs Programme, download the slideshow or visit the UK Youth website.

In Brief

Attendees had a chance to briefly promote services they work for and projects they are working on.

Michael Scarborough, Volunteer to Career Partnership Officer at VAS told us that the Volunteer to Career scheme is recruiting. Clients volunteer for admin-based work, which can flexible hours to fit in with clients. Clients will be mentored by an experienced individual.

Daniel Atherton, Volunteer at Code your Future explained that they run a course that supports people learn skills to get them into jobs in the digital sector. Skills include coding, AI ect. Clients don’t need to have any previous experience and will even be provided with a laptop if needed.

Sian Waddell, Employability Lead & Learning and Development Facilitator at Sheffield Teaching Hospitals NHS Foundation Trust reminded everyone that she was the point of reference for the Trust’s employability programmes. Currently they have five catering production operative vacancies, that don’t require experience or qualifications.

John Pybus, Employment Recruitment Co-ordinator at Novas is now working with prison leavers, to help them gain employment. They are Funded through Opportunity Sheffield’s Pathway Programme and has an office at The Circle in the city centre and is open for referrals for any clients with a criminal record.

The meeting was concluded and Ross thanked everyone for their attendance.

The date for the Teacake Club Autumn Meeting will be announced soon.

If you would like to offer a venue or present at a future Teacake Club meeting, please email Ross Brown: ross.brown@sheffield.gov.uk