Hello, I'm Katie Balls and welcome to a special episode of Women with Balls, sponsored by Lloyd's Banking Group.

The pandemic has changed many aspects of our lives, but one of the biggest is the way we work,

with 46% of people working from home last year and 86% of current home working emerging as a result of COVID-19.

Even now, as the government's roadmap to ending lockdown is underway, it's unclear when that will

mean a wide return to the office and the government has promised a review into making flexible

working a permanent feature of British working life. Perhaps no group has been more impacted by this than the young.

Youth unemployment has risen by 13% since the pandemic began,

leading some to call this batch for 16 to 24-year-olds the COVID generation.

Meanwhile, there is an industry concern that the group most likely to suffer from working from home

are those starting out, who could find out harder to suffer from working from home are those starting

out who could find it harder to learn from colleagues who appear remotely. As for graduates,

they enter an overcrowded market. Almost one in eight recent graduates was unemployed in the third

quarter of 2020. But at the same time, there are also opportunities. The ability to work

from anywhere could

allow companies to diversify their talent pool and help those at a disadvantage when it comes

to being near any of the big cities. So, how can these problems be solved and could

apprenticeships be part of the solution? Joining me to discuss this matter, we have.

Gillian Keegan, the Minister for Apprenticeships and Skills,

Francis O'Grady, General Secretary at the TUC,

and Michelle Blaney, Chief Culture and Talent Officer at Lloyd's Banking Group.

So many thanks for joining me today, ladies.

As mentioned in the introduction, the outlook for young people right now is challenging, I think to put it mildly.

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