A COUNCIL is investing £100,000 in a scheme that aims to bring 50 long-term unemployed youngsters into the workplace.

Hambleton District Council’s cabinet backed plans to encourage the area’s employers to take on young apprentices – by paying half the wages of 15 apprentices taken on by small businesses for six months.

Council leader Neville Huxtable, who devised the initiative, said: “There is a lot of long-term unemployment in this district – and we need young people to help us build the local economy.

“I am keen to encourage small businesses which have not taken on an apprentice before to do so, and help others take on more if possible.”

The council has recently taken on ten apprentices in the waste and street scene department.

The authority is working with local business leaders and Job Centre Plus to bring 18 to 24- year-olds who have been out of work for more than 26 weeks into an apprenticeship in the hope that it will give them purpose and a sense of achievement that will continue into employment.