City Gateway

City Gateway is a London-based charity training provider that specialises in preparing young people aged 16–24 for employment, further training or an apprenticeship. Through its traineeship programmes, City Gateway offers employability training, coaching and office-based work experience placements with partner employers. Programmes focus on building core workplace skills such as CV and cover letter writing, interview preparation and understanding workplace expectations, alongside the opportunity to gain Functional Skills in English and maths up to Level 2 and an Essential Digital Skills qualification. The organisation is explicit that it is not a college and receives funding specifically to support young people who have experienced social and economic inequality, including those who may have been in care, faced housing instability, acted as young carers, had criminal justice involvement or other barriers. A key progression route from the traineeships is into office-based apprenticeships with employers including NSPCC, Man Group, Thoughtworks and Savills in areas such as administration, customer service specialist, team leader/supervisor and departmental manager. Apprenticeships typically last 12–18 months and combine paid work with study, with City Gateway supporting learners during their programmes and into sustained jobs, apprenticeships or further education outcomes.