Sizewell C to run two youth careers events a year after 300 attend Ipswich launch

Sizewell C has pledged to run two youth careers events a year, in Ipswich and Lowestoft, after more than 300 young people attended its first at Ipswich Town Football Club on Wednesday.

The power station project said in an announcement on 2 October that the event, organised by the Sizewell C Jobs Service, brought together more than 25 local employers and training providers.

It was aimed at 16 to 24-year-olds, who met organisations from energy, construction, engineering, logistics, professional services and retail. The event ran from 10:00 to 14:30.

Stuart Allsopp, Jobs Service Lead at Sizewell C, said: "From the outset, Sizewell C has committed to creating a lasting skills legacy for Suffolk and East Anglia."

Exhibitors included the Port of Felixstowe, Suffolk County Council, the British Army, ScottishPower Renewables and the Civil Works Alliance, a partnership between Sizewell C and three construction companies.

The focus on NEET young people

Sizewell C said a key focus was supporting young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET). It cited recent government figures showing about one in eight 16 to 24-year-olds in the UK, about one million young people, are in that category.

The two most recent Office for National Statistics (ONS) bulletins give the following estimates for 16 to 24-year-olds in the UK.

Period	Young people who were NEET	Rate	Bulletin released
January to March 2026	1,012,000	13.5%	28 May 2026
April to June 2026	981,000	13.0%	27 August 2026

The ONS said the April to June rate was up 0.2 percentage points on the same period a year earlier.

Georgia, from Saxmundham, who attended the event, said: "Here, you get to actually talk to a person, and they can tell you things that can help you find a job or an apprenticeship."

Who backed it

Phil Stittle, Eastern Education Group's Executive Director for Business and Strategic Growth, said the pledge to run two such events every year had the group's full support.

Dan Ambrose, Head of Stakeholder Engagement for Sizewell C at Kier, said it was encouraging to see so many young people exploring opportunities in construction.

Jack Abbott, MP for Ipswich, said more than 300 local people were already working on the project. Sizewell C has pledged, working with Mr Abbott, to support at least 500 people from Ipswich into jobs linked to the project.

The background

The youth events add to a programme of general careers fairs. Sizewell C said in December 2025 that its fairs that year, held in Lowestoft, Leiston and Ipswich, had attracted about 1,500 attendees.

Under the Ipswich jobs agreement, published in October 2024, Sizewell C said it would work with the Department for Work and Pensions to run two community-focused jobs fairs a year and sponsor the Suffolk Future Skills Fair in 2024, 2025 and 2026. It also set out two-year funding agreements worth £150k in total with the Ipswich charities Project 21 and Inspire, the latter working with under 25-year-olds.

In April 2026 the project announced its first Women in Construction jobs fair, at the Sizewell Sports and Social Club in Leiston on 15 April, with about 35 contractors due to exhibit.

In May 2026 it signed a refreshed memorandum of understanding with Eastern Education Group at One Sixth Form College in Ipswich, covering training routes, apprenticeships and jobs linked to the project. Sizewell C said that followed similar agreements with East Coast College and Suffolk New College.

The numbers

Sizewell C has committed to at least 1,500 apprenticeships, including 540 for Suffolk residents, and to at least 500 jobs each for people in Lowestoft and Ipswich during construction. It has also pledged that at least a third of its peak construction workforce will come from East Anglia.

The project said it expects to employ almost 8,000 workers on site at peak construction. The government, announcing the final investment decision in July 2025, said Sizewell C would support 10,000 jobs directly employed in the project at peak.

The government put the target construction cost at about £38bn in 2024 prices. Sizewell C said the power station will generate 3.2GW of low-carbon electricity once operational.