Young people and businesses are to be encouraged to come together to help Norwich to flourish beyond the coronavirus pandemic.

The Norwich For Jobs project, founded by Norwich North MP Chloe Smith, launches a new campaign tomorrow (Friday, July 16).

The campaign, called 'Our city, our recovery, our futures' aims to get more Norwich businesses to offer young people the chance to get jobs and experience.

Businesses are being invited to offer apprenticeships, internships, work experience, industry placements and work placements through the government's Kickstart scheme.

Ms Smith said: "The coronavirus outbreak has been one of the biggest public challenges for a generation, and it’s caused a lot of change for people in Norwich.

"Workplaces and young people have both faced a lot of upheaval.

"We don’t want the pandemic to extend into more damage to people’s jobs, so Norwich for Jobs is taking action once again."

Ms Smith said government initiatives such as the Kickstart scheme, incentive payments to small businesses to take on apprentices and the Restart scheme to help long term unemployed could all be utilised by Norwich businesses.

She said: "The Norwich for Jobs partnership have thought about how partners can work together effectively to enabling young people and businesses in Norwich to flourish beyond the Covid pandemic.

"Tomorrow we are launching a new campaign, 'Our city, our recovery, our futures' and are calling on businesses and young people to come together to enable Norwich to flourish beyond the Covid pandemic.

“I urge businesses to get involved because together we can come back stronger, and together we can help young people to get the chances they desperately need.

"There are currently over 4,500 18 to 24 year olds in Norwich claiming universal credit due to being out of work or needing additional work.

"Nearly 2,000 of those young people are job-ready to get straight into work, whether in a new Kickstart role, apprenticeship, or other junior role.”