With recent figures showing that almost one in five 16- to 24-year-olds (1,163,000) are not in education, employment or training – an increase of 137,000 on this time last year, it’s time take some serious action! Here at icould we’ve had a lot of feedback regarding the lack of jobs available, so let’s hope this new scheme helps many of you to get back on track.
Today Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg announced Youth Contract, a £1bn scheme aimed at tackling youth unemployment. The money will be spent over three years and will provide opportunities including job subsidies, apprenticeships and work experience placements to 500,000 unemployed people.
The government will contribute £2,275 to 160,000 work places as an incentive to encourage more private-sector business to hire an unemployed 18- to 24-year-old.
The scheme will be managed by private-sector organisations and anyone taken on will need to complete the placement or will be refused benefits. Anyone rejecting a subsidised job offer will be required to undertake four weeks’ mandatory work activity.
Each contribution is worth half the current youth national minimum wage and will last for six months. It will be available to all 18- to 24-year-olds who have been on jobseeker’s allowance for over nine months and all employers will be expected to pay at least the minimum wage.
The Deputy Prime Minister will also commit a further £1bn to fund 250,000 work experience places which will be provided over the next three years, adding to the 50,000 places announced so far.
The places will be offered to every 18- to 24-year-old after three months’ unemployment, but before they enter the Youth Contract work programme. In addition to this a further £50m programme will target 16- and 17-year-olds who are not in education, employment or training.
Nick Clegg explained the importance of the scheme “The aim of the Youth Contract is to get every unemployed young person working or learning again before long-term damage is done. This is a £1bn package and what’s different about it is it gets young people into proper, lasting jobs in the private sector. But it’s a contract, a two-way street: if you sign up for the job, there’ll be no signing on for the dole. You have to stick with it. Youth unemployment is an economic waste and a slow-burn social disaster.”
So for those of you that have been job hunting for a long time and still had no luck, this scheme might be just the opportunity you need!
