24 individuals have secured job offers following Julia Lopez MP's Jobs & Skills Fair, organised in partnership with the Job Centre Plus East London Team and generously hosted by the Queen's Theatre. This number is set to grow higher still with a further 27 individuals having secured second interviews.

The local MP organised the fair with the fantastic Jobcentre Plus East London team, who have worked tirelessly throughout the pandemic and beyond to support people into training or fulfilling new job opportunities, and assist with Universal Credit and access to programmes like Kickstart.

Speaking about the event, Mrs Lopez said, ‘I am so grateful to the JCP team and to Queen’s Theatre for once again supporting us in hosting our Jobs & Skills Fair for local people. I know that some employers in the borough, particularly in hospitality and care, have found it difficult to fill vacancies and I wanted to support them in finding excellent candidates from the area to take on those roles. I also wanted to give jobseekers an opportunity to speak to skills providers and employers directly rather than online. It was wonderful to hear that the Fair has already helped match 24 people with direct job offers and I hope that this number grows higher still following a second round of interviews.’

The event follows a visit Mrs Lopez and her team made to the Jobcentre Plus in Romford earlier in the summer to continue their close working relationship to support constituents. The visit was led by Rizwan Ahmad, whose team so impressed Mrs Lopez that she messaged Work & Pensions Secretary, Therese Coffey, to highlight their work. Ms Coffey advised that Mr Ahmad had won a national Prime Minister’s Award for Exceptional Public Service in recognition of his efforts to place over 5500 young people in the region into the Kickstart scheme.

After the success of the fair, the MP and her team hope to put on another event for employers and constituents in the coming months. In the meantime, the full range of attending employers and the roles they were recruiting for can be viewed below: