RISING numbers of school leavers are finding themselves unable to find work.

In August alone, 530 people aged 16 to 18 in Colchester who were classified as not in employment, education or training – otherwise known as NEET in Government jargon.

Lota, a training provider in Witham which offers courses to youngsters desperate to find employment, is helping about 250 young people from the Colchester and Braintree area.

The training provider, which is due to set up a base in Colchester and expand into Tendring, runs apprenticeships and short courses for young people in the hope it will give them that extra push in finding a job.

Wendy Twydell, business development manager of Lota, said many of the youngsters came to it feeling frustrated and disillusioned.

She said: “The NEET figures are so high in Colchester and Braintree at the moment.

“Jobs are very scarce and the jobs which are on offer are tending to go to graduates.

“We are aiming to get these youngsters off the streets and into work.

“We have had a few young lads on the motor vehicle course and one had sent out more than 200 CVs for all sorts of different jobs, and didn’t even get a reply.

“It is very sad and it is easy to see how they would become fed-up and disillusioned by it all.”

Ms Twydell said Lota has had several success stories since its Witham centre opened in January.

She said: “We have had a number of people take the business administration course and go on to get work.

“One woman has become a marketing assistant and another an assistant editor on a wedding magazine, so the training can prove vital in the hunt for a job.”

Shaun Fitzgerald, 17, of Erle Havard Road, East Bergholt, started a mechanics course at Colchester Institute after leaving Stanway School.

After completing the first stage he was told there were not enough places at the college for him to complete the next level of his course, vital for him to qualify as a mechanic.

He said: “I was really disappointed. The college took 35 people a year on the course and I didn’t make the cut.

“I later got down to the last five on an apprenticeship, but just missed out on a place so I didn’t know what to do.

“All I wanted was a full-time job in a garage so I could work my way up, but in the end I was looking for anything I could find to get some money coming in.

“It has been hard for a lot of my friends when they left school.

“A friend was doing a joinery course, but had to drop out because he couldn’t find any joinery or carpentry work at all.”

Shaun signed up to the Lota motor vehicle course in September and was able to get experience at Lota’s training centre in Maldon, which has a garage with cars for the budding mechanics to work on.

He now says he feels much more positive about his future and hopes to secure a three-day-a-week work placement at a garage.

Rosie Childs, 18, of Lapwing Drive, Maldon, is just about to complete her level two business administration course with Lota and is undertaking an apprenticeship in administration.

She said: “I didn’t have a clue what I wanted to do when I left school, although I thought I might like something business-related.

“It was hard to find anything before because I had no qualifications, but now I am in a much better position to find work.

“A lot of my friends have had to go to college to study rather than straight into work as they wanted because they couldn’t find anything and others have got part-time catering jobs.

“It is really hard.”

The scheme runs courses such as information technology, health and social care, engineering, business administration, motoring and childcare courses.

Funding is available from the Learning and Skills Council and many youngsters will be able to claim a studying allowance.

For more information, call Lota training on 01376 503324, or visit www.lotatraining.co.uk