The number of new public sector jobs offered in the last month continued to decline, but this drop was outstripped by the rise in private sector job offers.

According to the Reed Jon Index, the number of new jobs on offer across the country rose by three percent compared to last month, to reach its highest level since the Index began. Job demand has risen seven per cent compared to 11 months ago, and beats the previous highpoint recorded in February.

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A Lancashire school has become the first in the country to house a complete business centre for new entrepreneurs with the aim of getting more young people to start their own businesses. Darwen Aldridge Community Academy was supported by No Limits, Pennine Lancashire’s business support programme, to develop the ‘enterprise haven’.
 
The centre, Called Darwen Creates has space and on-site support for new and developing businesses and social enterprises. A dedicated team on site also provide guidance to academy students and other people in the community who want to develop their ideas into their own business. The scheme is backed by the offer of free business office space for 16 to 25-year-old entrepreneurs.
 
Dennis Mendoros, who chairs Regenerate Pennine Lancashire, said the centre was a bridge between education and employment. “This is exactly the transition we want to see young people making when they finish school. It is important for them to appreciate the opportunities of starting their own business and more importantly to realise that if they are going to start a business there is a helping hand,”
he said.
 
The Academy is one of very few in the country to have entrepreneurship as a specialism. Its sponsor, Rod Aldridge, said: “The project helps to break down the barriers traditionally faced by entrepreneurs, giving them the greatest chance of succeeding.”

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Research commissioned by the Department for Work and Pensions found that there was no difference in rents in the private rented sector paid by jobless households compared to the those paid by low income households in work. The principle finding was that the great majority of low income working households live in accommodation of the ‘right’ size, in terms of the number of bedrooms, or larger than those that would be deemed appropriate under Housing Benefit regulations.

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