More help to get people back to work after a care career break in West Yorkshire
STEM ReCharge provides a range of support to help carers get back into work in the science, technology, engineering or maths sectors
A 'transformative' government-funded scheme has been launched to aid Leeds parents and carers to return to careers in tech and engineering after a care-related career break of a year or more.
It's the second intake of the program which launched in May this year with 40 people- the majority of whom were women- with another 60 places for those wanting to re-enter the world of STEM.
CEO of Women Returners- who co-run the scheme- Julianne Miles said, "You get a comprehensive program of career coaching, job skills training, mentoring, and technical refresh sessions."
"At the end of this- when you have rebuilt your confidence and skills- we then make connections with local employers."
There are currently around 75,000 people in the UK who are economically inactive due to caring responsibilities but would like a return to a STEM job.
An estimated 1.5m women and 200,000 men across the country are not in paid employment to focus on looking after their family and home.
Helen Foreman, from Leeds, completed the programme in July 2023 after leaving her job as a business analyst to move closer to her parents to start a family.
When she wanted to return to a permanent in-house role, her confidence was knocked by the recruitment process.
She said, "They've allowed me to develop my return-to-work roadmap, identify my strengths, boost my self-confidence, and define my personal values and the meaning of job fulfilment to me."
Leeds is quickly becoming one of the UK's most exciting tech hubs and estimates from Microsoft predict that there will be 173,000 new engineering and technology jobs across the UK by 2030.
The programme has not only received from multiple tech firms across West Yorkshire, but also Leeds City Council itself.
Councillor Jonathon Pryor, Deputy Leader of Leeds City Council and Executive Member for Economy, Culture and Education said, "It's important that we work to support employers to fill talent gaps and allow people to build the skills and confidence to return to a sustainable career in the growing and vibrant, regional tech sector."