Graduates on placements at a Keighley voluntary group will allow existing workers to focus on helping local people.

Keighley and Ilkley Voluntary and Community Action (KIVCA) plans to give 20-week paid internships to five graduates.

They will mostly work at KIVCA’s Central Hall base carrying out tasks such as administration, marketing and organising specific projects.

This will allow KIVCA’s team of community development workers to spend more time out of the office working with residents and groups.

KIVCA chief officer Caroline Schwaller said: “I’m confident the graduates will like working here. “It will ease pressure on other staff, who need to be out and about.”

Placements are being organised through the Routes to Work project, with Bradford Council paying each graduate £140 a week in expenses.