‘Real support and opportunity’ is the promise attached to Rossendale’s new Youth Hub, now open across Haslingden and Bacup for 16 to 24-year-olds who need help into work, training or education. According to the Department for Work and Pensions, the service is running from the Adrenaline Centre in Haslingden on Mondays and from Futures Park in Bacup on Wednesdays and Thursdays. Young people can get CV help, skills training, careers guidance, mental health support and housing advice in one place rather than being sent from service to service.

For a borough where the next step after school or college can feel uncertain, that joined-up offer matters. The idea is straightforward enough: if a young person is struggling to find work or has fallen out of education, support should be close to home and easy to reach, not buried under referrals and separate appointments. Youth Hubs are designed to bring Jobcentre Plus, council services, employers and training providers together under one roof. In practice, that means help with applications and job search, but also the wider pressures that often decide whether somebody can take up an opportunity at all.

The Rossendale opening sits inside a bigger national push. Ministers say almost one million young people across Great Britain are not in education, employment or training, and the wider Youth Guarantee is backed by £2.5 billion to make sure young people have a better shot at earning or learning. More hubs are due to open in every local area over the next three years, from major cities to smaller towns. That national promise only means something, though, if places like Rossendale see proper delivery rather than another short-term scheme that makes a noise at launch and fades from view.

The Department for Work and Pensions says every hub in the network will have to meet a minimum standard. That includes on-site Jobcentre support, access to mental health and housing help, skills and training options, careers advice and direct links to employers with live jobs and apprenticeships. If it works as intended, young people should not have to tell the same story to five different organisations before they get somewhere useful. For families in Rossendale, that kind of joined-up service is the difference between a policy announcement in Westminster and something that actually changes life on the ground.

Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden described the opening as a step forward for young people in Rossendale and said where somebody grows up should not decide the chances they get. Rossendale Borough Council leader Councillor Alyson Barnes struck a more local note, saying the route into work or training is often about confidence, support and access as much as it is about filling in an application form. Barnes said the new hub gives young people in the borough a stronger link to employers, training providers and other services. She also pointed to the value of offering that support in places local people already know, rather than expecting them to piece it together on their own.

Local delivery will involve WorkWell, Citizens Advice, Rossendale Borough Council, Active Lancashire’s Rossendale Works programme and Burnley College, with the aim of shaping support around the local economy rather than dropping in a one-size-fits-all model. That is the right test for Rossendale. Not the launch photo or the ministerial wording, but whether a young person walks through the door in Haslingden or Bacup and comes out with a course place, an interview, an apprenticeship or the practical backing to stay on track. The opening is welcome. The next question is whether the service keeps showing up for local young people week after week.