Lib Dem leader Clegg announced today a £126 million scheme to get 16 and 17-year-olds back into employment or education. The programme is part of the coalition’s Youth Contract scheme, announced last November in a bid to tackle youth unemployment.
Under the new initiative, charities and businesses will be invited to bid for contracts worth up to £2,200 to take young people on. They will receive an initial payment up front, and more money when the youngsters show progress.
The last Neets figures, for the third quarter of last year, showed that more than a million 16 to 24-year-olds (1,163,000) – almost one in five – were considered Not in Employment Education or Training”. Last weekthe latest unemployment figures showed that the numbers of 16 to 24-year-olds not in work increased by 22,000 to 1.04 million in the quarter year to December 2011.