The Centre for the New Midlands is delighted to be hosting a roundtable, in partnership with Talent Today, focussed on Skills to Success: Bridging Education and Employment.

The focus of our roundtable:

Across the Midlands, employers continue to report difficulties finding people with the right skills and workplace experience, while many young people and graduates struggle to translate their education into meaningful employment. As the economy evolves, ensuring that our talent pipeline meets the needs of modern employers is increasingly critical to the region’s long-term prosperity.

This roundtable will bring together a select group of leaders to discuss how we can strengthen the connection between education pathways and real-world employment opportunities.

The discussion, over a three course meal, will focus on three key questions:

• What capabilities do employers most need, and where are current education pathways falling short?
• How can employers play a more active role in shaping education and career pathways?
• What practical steps could most improve the transition from education into employment over the next five years?

The session will be an informal and open discussion designed to surface ideas, insights, and potential collaborations that could help shape future work across the Midlands.  Our event sponsors, Talent Today, is a specialist IT recruitment consultancy delivering carefully assessed contractor talent across project delivery, software development, cloud and cybersecurity.  Talent Today have been members of our Reimagining the Region network since 2024 and we are delighted to be welcoming Gary Wills (CEO) to the lunch.

We are extremely conscious of how much work is being led across the region to try to tackle some of these enormous challenges, but crucially, these challenges still persist which are preventing young people fulfil their true potential and business from recruiting the talent it needs.

To express your interest in attending, please email events@thenewmidlands.org.uk

(Please note that priority on invitations will be for members of our Reimagining the Region network – if you and your organisation are not yet members, please click here for more information on how to join)

The Centre for the New Midlands and St Basils are delighted to invite you to join us for the launch of a new report; an evaluation of St Basils ‘Live and Work’ model.

One in six young people in the UK cannot find work. In Birmingham, youth unemployment runs at double the national average. For young people without family support, the private rental market is unaffordable, untenable social housing waiting lists stretch to a decade, and the benefit system actively penalises those who secure employment. This is a structural failure with generational consequences.

St Basils’ Live and Work scheme was built as a direct response. Since opening in Sandwell in 2015, it has provided genuinely affordable accommodation (with rents set at or below Local Housing Allowance) to young people in employment who might otherwise be at risk of homelessness or trapped in the benefits system. Over 230 young people have passed through the scheme, and all paid their rent from earned income.

The scheme has received national recognition, winning the ‘Outstanding Contribution to Homelessness’ category in the National Housing Awards 2018 and ‘Homelessness Partnership of the Year’ in the 2020 UK National Housing Awards. St Basil’s Live and Work model has since expanded: 80 bed spaces opened in Birmingham city centre in 2025, and a further 28 self-contained units are now confirmed for Coventry.

A decade on from the first scheme in Sandwell, the Centre for the New Midlands has conducted an independent evaluation drawing on ten years of service user data, a detailed SROI analysis,  and in-depth interviews with young people residents and stakeholders. Behind the numbers are young people who described, often for the first time, being able to hold down a job, save money, and believe the future was something they could plan for.

This report launch presents the evaluation’s findings and recommendations at a significant moment: St Basils has recently secured a legislative exemption within the Renters Rights Act 2025 enabling Stepping Stone accommodation for young workers nationally – moving this model from local proof of concept to national policy agenda.

Join Jean Templeton, Chief Executive of St Basils and Chair of the WMCA Homelessness Taskforce, and the Centre for the New Midlands evaluation team led by Dr Halima Sacranie and Thea Raisbeck for an evidence-led conversation about social return on investment, the cost of inaction, and what it takes to give young people access to the one thing that makes everything else possible: somewhere affordable to live and work.”

This report launch event was made possible thanks to the generosity of our partners, Trowers & Hamlins.

Registration for this event is essential by visiting our event booking page.  Please note that this event has a limited capacity of 60.

Join the Centre for the New Midlands for our Reimagining the Region Summer Reception, to be held in Birmingham on Thursday 4th June from 5pm – 8.30pm.

We are delighted to be welcoming Ed Cox (Chief Executive, West Midlands Combined Authority) as our guest speaker for the evening.

Following the discussion with our speaker – hosted in a fireside chat format – our delegates will be served a Thai buffet and have the opportunity to network over drinks in Chaophraya Birmingham.

Please note that this event is for Members of our Reimagining the Region network. Tickets are available for non-members to purchase, but this event is primarily aimed at our members’ network.

For further information on our current members list, please visit our website.   If your organisation is not yet a member of our network, please click here for more information and to join!  Annual rates start from £475 + VAT – we look forward to welcoming you.  Should you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact chris@thenewmidlands.org.uk

Tickets are available by visiting our booking page – with the full programme due to be published on 8th April

If you and your organisation are interested in sponsoring this key event for the region, please contact Chris Smith via email (chris@thenewmidlands.org.uk).  Further information on the opportunities available can be found by clicking here

We are delighted to invite members of our Reimagining the Region network to Save the Date for our Winter Reception 2026, to be held in The Churchill Room at the Palace of Westminster on Monday 14th December, 6.30pm – 9.30pm.   

This event has been sponsored by Sarah Coombes MP (Member of Parliament for West Bromwich).

If your organisation is not yet a member of our network, please contact Chris Smith (Founder and CEO) via chris@thenewmidlands.org.uk to join.  Annual rates start from £475 + VAT – we look forward to welcoming you.  Should you have any queries, please do not hesitate to contact chris@thenewmidlands.org.uk