A total of 365 participants took part in a wide range of employment and skills academies, including programmes in cleantech, hydrogen, welding, childcare, phlebotomy, classroom assistance, administration, and enterprise.

A total of 377 qualifications were achieved across these programmes.

Despite a late start due to delayed funding, 83 participants have already gained employment, with further outcomes expected later in 2025/26 as academies conclude.

The STEM Intervention Programme ran between April and September.

The initiative included a range of activities aimed at raising awareness of STEM subjects and career opportunities.

The programme was offered free of charge to schools and included 17 in-school workshops, 2 full-day events, a Teacher Insight Day and a final celebration event.

A total of 8 schools participated, with 454 students attending the in-school workshops and 326 participating in the 2 full-day events.

A total of 1,035 individuals engaged through Northern Ireland Apprenticeship Week activities in February and through the Apprenticeship E-Hub.

Apprenticeship Week included 400 employer visits to schools, 40 school visits to employers, and 80 creative industries school takeovers.

It also featured 2 key events, the Northern Regional College’s Higher Level Apprenticeship event with 228 attendees and a construction sector takeover event with 66 participants.

The Apprenticeship E-Hub has continued to grow, with 199 applications submitted, 16 companies registered, and 6 apprenticeships commenced.

In total, 215 individuals and businesses have actively engaged through the platform.

Across all programmes, 41 apprenticeship and placement opportunities were secured, 19 through the Work Connections Programme and 6 via the E-Hub.

The newly launched Placement Insights Programme supported 16 participants in its first cohort, offering hands-on industry experience to boost employability and career readiness.

We set a target of delivering at least 15 work experience and work placements across the year.

While this target was not fully met, we successfully provided 9 placements across various departments, including Climate Change & Sustainability, Tourism, Arts & Culture, and Parks & Open Spaces.

We are currently working on the development of a Work Placement policy and moving forward we will focus on actively promoting placement opportunities and strengthening collaborations with educational institutions.

Across the year, over 10,300 people participated across 1,400 sessions of the MEActive programme.

Over half of participants were female and almost 3,400 had a disability or lifelong illness.

The programme offered a variety of activities including AquaFit, Pilates, Danderball, Dodgeball, Men’s Over 50’s Circuits, Pickleball, and Racket Club, catering to all ages and abilities.

Status: Achieved

Across the year, the Physical Activity Referral Scheme (PARS) received 282 GP referrals, with 110 individuals enrolling in the programme.

Of those enrolled, 53 participants have successfully completed the full 12-week programme and are now paying a reduced gym membership fee of £15 per month.

The Veterans Programme delivered a successful year of activity, with 5 key events focused on honouring and connecting local veterans.

Highlights included popular visits to Stormont and the RUC GC Memorial Garden, a historical talk with live music in Ballymena, and group visits to the Royal Ulster Rifles Museum, the Museum of Orange Heritage, and Drumalis House in Larne.

Events were well attended, with strong engagement, positive feedback, and growing interest, prompting additional activities to meet demand and encouraging new participants to join the programme.

The Poverty Action Group continued to support low-income families and individuals across the borough through financial advice, food distribution, essential resources, and wellbeing programmes.

With group support, we successfully delivered the borough-wide School Uniform Scheme, providing vital assistance ahead of the new school year.

Although the group hasn't met formally this year, members remained active in addressing local needs.

To improve coordination, we will take on facilitation and assign a dedicated staff resource to resume regular meetings, ensuring more effective partnership working and ongoing support for vulnerable citizens.

The Mid and East Antrim Loneliness Network is dedicated to combating loneliness and fostering community connections across the borough.

Initiatives to date include:​

• 18 Chatty Benches
• 12 Chatty Cafés
• 17 Loneliness Champions
• 6 Kindness Post-boxes
• A Connected Walk
• A Christmas Event

The launch of the Age-Friendly Strategy and Action Plan 2024–27 in September marked a key milestone in our commitment to supporting older people.

A series of events and workshops highlighted available services, resulting in several onward referrals.

Our new Age-Friendly information booklet prompted a number of direct support requests, and Agewell’s reflective tool ‘See Things from My Age’ was presented at the November meeting of the Age-Friendly Alliance, alongside health and wellbeing initiatives on energy efficiency and home accident prevention.

Complementing this, in partnership with Agewell and funded by the Arts Council NI, our Arts team delivered the Rural Engagement Arts Programme and the Arts and Older People Programme, engaging over 500 older people through drama, storytelling, and creative workshops.

Over the past year, we’ve made strong progress in making our services and spaces more accessible and welcoming for autistic people.

We implemented Autism-Friendly Action Plans across 4 key cultural venues, The Braid Museum and Arts Centre, Larne Arts Centre, Carrickfergus Museum, and Andrew Jackson Cottage.

These venues are introducing sensory spaces, accessible signage, and pre-visit guides, with the aim of achieving Autism NI Impact Award accreditation by June 2025.

To strengthen our support network, we trained and accredited 4 additional Autism Champions, bringing the total to 17 champions across our parks, leisure, arts, and museum services.

We also developed and launched an Autism-Awareness Communications Plan, which includes the promotion of Quiet Hours in our parks and new resources for Autism Acceptance Month, such as an Employability Guide and Training Model, developed in partnership with the Northern Area Autism Forum.

Our efforts were recognised with the Local Government Equality, Diversity & Inclusion Award at the 2025 NILGA Awards.

Significant progress has been made in delivering the actions set out in our Equality and Disability Action Plans.

Key achievements to date include:

• Provision of disability swimming lessons in each of our leisure centres.
• Delivery of inclusive activities during Love Parks Week.
• Engagement of pupils with special educational needs in tree planting activities within our parks and open spaces.
• Delivery of PAN Disability clubs in each of our leisure centres.
• Launch of the Graduate Build programme in partnership with Disability Action.
• Continued rollout of our Autism-Friendly Borough initiative.

Our internal Equality, Diversity & Inclusion (EDI) Network plays a key role in this work, meeting quarterly to monitor progress, provide feedback, and share best practices across departments.

As part of the Corporate and Support Services Directorate restructure, dedicated roles, including an Inclusion & Equality Manager and a Consultation & Engagement Officer, have been established to further strengthen our capacity to deliver on these commitments.

As a result of reduced funding, the Good Relations Action Plan was streamlined to the following 3 programmes:

• Celebrating Culture Safely – Fully delivered, with 9 cultural beacons distributed across the borough, supporting safe and respectful celebration of local traditions.
• Integrate – Following a procurement process, the Inter-Ethnic Forum (Mid and East Antrim) was appointed to deliver this programme, promoting inclusion and engagement with diverse communities.
• Good Relations Audit and Strategy – A contract has been awarded to carry out a borough-wide consultation to inform a new strategy.

In September, we were pleased to participate in Good Relations Week 2024, joining local groups and organisations to celebrate under the theme ‘OpportUNiTY’.

The week featured workshops, theatre, talks, exhibitions, and performances that showcased the rich diversity and shared values within our community.

The PCSP was reconstituted with new members, supported by induction and training, and 3 working groups were established to focus on key priorities, including anti-social behaviour, drugs and alcohol, and domestic and sexual violence.

Formal meetings were held quarterly, and Community Safety Wardens played an active role in engaging with local communities.

We continued to support the Inter-Ethnic Forum, funded bilingual services, and delivered successful initiatives such as the Four Tier Home Security scheme and Small Grant Funding for local safety projects.