Young people in South Cumbria will gain invaluable work experience and real-world skills through an exciting new extended placement scheme involving local employers.
The Centre for Leadership Performance is joint-funding the new programme with offshore wind energy company Ørsted through the Walney Extension Skills Fund.
The Placement+ programme will offer up to 40 18-25 year olds in Barrow, Walney, Ulverston, Kirkby-in-Furness, and Grange-over-Sands to explore STEM-focused careers (Science Technology Engineering Maths). They will gain hands-on experience and boost their confidence in six-week-long extended placements with local companies during Summer 2026.
Volunteers from local companies will mentor and advise the students who will also have the chance to network with local employers and gain valuable insights into workplaces.
CforLP Executive Director Sarah Glass explains: “It is hugely important to improve connections and relationships between young people and local companies in South Cumbria. Young people often find it difficult to access work experience opportunities – nationally only 29% of young people had access to work experience last year. But they recognise the importance of these placements – 54% believe lack of experience could hold them back.”
“This new funding from the Walney Extension Skills Fund, combined with allocation of a share of our own surplus generated as a not-for-profit SME, is enabling us to extend and build on the success of our unique Dream Placement programme.”
Every year the Dream Placement programme connects 200+ young people with 40+ local employers in Cumbria, giving students a taste of working life and businesses a chance to inspire the next generation. The new extended STEM Placements are flexible, allowing a company to host a student one day a week for six weeks or structure it in a way that works best for their team.
Companies that get involved bring fresh ideas and energy into their workforce and boost their corporate social responsibility and social impact targets. It is also a low-risk way to connect with potential future employees.
“We will support and encourage young people in South Cumbria to register for a development programme. Concurrently we will collaborate with local organisations and employers to ensure they can confidently offer these planned and managed placements, providing mentoring and skills development to enable effective and rewarding experiences. Ultimately, we aim to create sustainable infrastructure and networks, allowing the scheme to continue beyond the funded project.
In total, the scheme aims to attract twenty 16-18 year olds, and twenty 18-25 year olds from Barrow, Walney and South Lakeland, working with ten employers and up to 40 volunteers, who will support the young people to develop skills and build confidence
Young people can apply via a simple online registration form, followed by a 1:1 conversation with the CforLP. The programme will include development workshops, confidence building sessions, skills identification, goal setting, effective communication, how-to sessions for applications, CV writing & interview skills, and face-to-face events and interviews with employers for the extended placements.
The CforLP will work in collaboration with Team Barrow, Westmorland and Furness Council, the University of Cumbria, Furness College, Ulverston Victoria High School, Cumbria Youth Alliance, Inspira, Hello Future, the Careers Hub, local employers.
Young people or companies can learn more by visiting www.cforlp.org.uk or emailing Rhianna.smith@cforlp.org.uk
Editors’ Notes
Media contacts:
Matt Young – GrantScape: 01908 247630 / 07963 987653 – matt.young@grantscape.org.uk
Charli Parkin – Ørsted: +447917 766070 CPARK@orsted.com
About Ørsted:
The Ørsted vision is a world that runs entirely on green energy. Ørsted develops, constructs, and operates offshore and onshore wind farms, solar farms, energy storage facilities, renewable hydrogen and green fuels facilities, and bioenergy plants. Ørsted is recognised on the CDP Climate Change A List as a global leader on climate action and was the first energy company in the world to have its science-based net-zero emissions target validated by the Science Based Targets initiative (SBTi). Headquartered in Denmark, Ørsted employs approx. 8,000 people. Ørsted’s shares are listed on Nasdaq Copenhagen (Orsted). In 2022, the group’s revenue was DKK 132.3 billion (EUR 17.8 billion). Visit orsted.co.uk or follow us on Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram and X.
About GrantScape:
GrantScape is a grant-making charity committed to enhancing the environment and strengthening local communities through its grant programmes. GrantScape’s experience stretches back to 1997 and it has awarded grants totalling over £90 million to deserving projects over this time. GrantScape manages a range of community and environmental grant programmes on behalf of corporate and local authority clients. These are tailored to their individual requirements, which is the charity’s speciality. In addition, GrantScape offers a professional project management and grant process review service to groups requiring support with these activities.
For further information, please see: grantscape.org.uk or follow us @GrantScape1 on X.
About Walney Extension:
The Walney Extension Offshore Wind Farm is located next to the existing Walney Offshore Wind Farm, off the Walney Island coast in Cumbria. With a capacity of 659MW, Walney Extension is one of the world’s largest offshore wind farms and comprises 87 turbines. For further information, please visit: walneyextension.co.uk
About Walney Extension Community Fund
The fund supports community and environmental projects along the Cumbria and Lancashire coast, within a defined area. Approximately £600,000 is available each year (£100,000 of this
is ring-fenced for a ‘Skills Fund’). The fund is split equally between two annual funding rounds. There are two levels of grants available:
