New £1bn youth contract announced to tackle unemployment amongst young people
The Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg has announced a youth contract scheme which will “provide hope” to thousands of young people through subsidised work and training placements.
The youth contract scheme will give employers subsidies worth £2,275 to take on 160,000 18-to 24-year-olds, for six months, over three years. The aim is for young people to enter a range of employment sectors from construction and retail, to the green economy.
Up to 400,000 work and training placements will be created in England, Wales and Scotland by giving employers wage incentives equivalent to half of the youth national minimum wage.
Nick Clegg describes how the scheme “provides hope to the many, many young people who, at the moment, are feeling, very anxious and uncertain about their future”.
Other proposals include:
- Another 250,000 young people will be offered work experience placements lasting up to eight weeks. These will be available to every unemployed 18- to 24-year-old who wants one and has been seeking work for three months or more,
- A £50m programme for the 25,000 most disadvantaged 16-and 17-year-olds in England – those not in employment, education or training – to get them onto an apprenticeship or into work,
- At least 20,000 additional incentive payments for firms in England to create apprenticeships for 16- to 24-year-olds,
- More support for young people at job centres, such as extra time with advisers and a careers interview.
It is positive to support young people. But it should not be done at the expense of families with children by a cut in the uprating of Working Tax Credit.