FED Council Member: Laura-Jane Rawlings is CEO of Youth Employment. She is a passionate campaigner for youth employment and the rights for all young people to access employment and have their voices heard on the issues that affect them. Laura-Jane believes that it is for all of us to create a youth friendly society so that young people can fulfil their potential.
Laura-Jane founded Youth Employment UK in 2012, believing that there was a need to put young people at the heart of youth employment policy and services on a local and national level. Youth Employment UK is a not-for-profit, social enterprise that now supports more than 100,000 young people, employers, educators, third sector organisations and policy colleagues every month, fulfilling its core objectives:
- To give young people a voice and empower them to be more prepared for the world of work
- To help organisations be better equipped to support young people and adopt Youth Friendly Principles
- To ensure that government policy is geared towards the real needs of young people
Recognised as a leading youth employment expert Laura-Jane provides support, insight and expertise to many groups such as the All-Party Parliamentary Group for Youth Employment, the Youth Employment Group, Pearson Skills and Apprenticeship Group, DWP ESF Committees, she also supports the work of the Cabinet Office Inclusive Economy Partnership and the DCMS Youth Charter.
Laura-Jane is a Board Member of the Youth Futures Foundation, is an Advisory Board for the Digital Futures at Work Research Centre (Digit) and has been a secondary school governor for 6 years. Laura-Jane has worked on a number of consultative projects with organisations such as the Department for Culture Media and Sport, Cambridge Local Authority, Northamptonshire Learning Partnership, Chilled Food Association, PiXL and WorldSkills UK.
Laura-Jane has represented Youth Employment UK through a number of media outlets including BBC Breakfast, Channel 4 News, BBC Radio 4, FE News, Personnel Today and others.
