MILLIONS of pounds in funding has been secured to help transform the prospects for unemployed young people across the Tees Valley.

Hartlepool Borough Council has secured £19.2million to support about 6,500 young people aged 15 to 29 across the area to move into education, employment, self-employment or training.

The Tees Valley Pathways and Routeways Youth Employment Initiative programme is being managed by the council and delivered by 27 partners across the area, including Citizens Advice Darlington.

Young people accessing the free programme will gain the knowledge and the skills that employers demand and will get the support of a Flexible Learning and Skills Fund.

They will also be provided with individually tailored routes into employment through a range of activities such as volunteering, internships, traineeships and apprenticeships.

Neeraj Sharma, chief executive of Citizens Advice Darlington, said: “Over the years, as a by-product of the training we provide, many of our job-seeking volunteers are able to successfully move into employment.

"With this funding we have for the first time been able to go much further and design and build a programme which will increase a young person’s chances of moving into education, employment, self-employment or training.”