The Government has announced a Plan for Jobs to protect, support and create jobs across the country.
This includes:
Creating hundreds of thousands of new jobs for young people through a new £2 billion Kickstart Scheme, to give young people the best possible chance of getting a job. The scheme will directly pay businesses to create new, decent and high-quality jobs for any 16-24 year old at risk of long-term unemployment. Funding available for each job will cover 100 per cent of the National Minimum Wage for 25 hours a week, for six months in total, plus an admin fee – for a grant of around £6,500 per placement. There will be no cap on the number of places available, and our £2 billion will initially fund hundreds of thousands of new placements.
Paying businesses £1,000 to take on Trainees, with triple the number of places there are now, to get young people ready for work. The Government will provide £111 million to triple the scale of Traineeships, which consist of work experience placements, training and work preparation for 16-24 year olds. They will also increase the eligibility of Traineeships to include young people qualified up to Level 3 (advanced – equivalent to 2 good A Level passes), up from Level 2 (intermediate – equivalent to achieving 5 GCSEs at 9-4) currently.
Providing £2,000 to employers for each new apprentice they hire under the age of 25, helping more people into the workplace while developing key skills. In recognition of the value apprentices of any age can bring to our economic recovery, the Government will provide £2,000 to any employer in England who takes on an apprentice aged under 25, and £1,500 for any apprentice aged over 25.
Giving young people who have just left school the skills they need to find work in high-value sectors, such as engineering, construction and social care. The Government will provide £101 million to help 18 and 19 year olds to take high value courses at Levels 2 and 3 where work opportunities are not available.
Expanding the National Careers Service to help more young people find work or training. The Government will provide £32 million to recruit more careers advisers for the National Careers Service, so that it can provide advice to 269,000 more people.
Tripling the number of places available through Sector-Based Work Academies, supporting those who are out of work with the new skills they need to re-enter the jobs market. Sector-Based Work Academies are short-term courses lasting up to six weeks for unemployed benefit claimants. They consist of pre-employment training, work experience placements and guaranteed interviews. The Government will scale up these academies, providing an additional £17 million to triple the number of placements available in 2020-21, supporting 32,000 more vocational training placements.
Doubling the number of work coaches and boosting the DWP’s rapid response service to get people back on their feet and into work. The Government will double the number of Work Coaches through Job Centre Plus to 27,000; provide an additional £150 million into the Flexible Support Fund to remove barriers to work; and help DWP react quickly to large-scale redundancies by expanding the Rapid Response Service. They will also expand the Work and Health Programme to provide intensive support to people unemployed for at least three months; and launch a new scheme, modelling on the successful Work Programme, to support the long-term unemployed.
Offering a guaranteed foundation of support to all young people on Universal Credit with a new Youth Offer. From September, the Government are providing a guaranteed foundation of support for all 18-24 year olds on Universal Credit. The Youth Offer will include: 13 weeks of intensive support – including a referral to work-related training or an apprenticeship; new Young People’s Hubs for those who need additional tailored work coach support; and Youth Employability Coaches for those with more complex needs.
Creating an Opportunity Guarantee so every young person has the chance of an apprenticeship or an in-work placement. As the Prime Minister announced last week the Government will provide an Opportunity Guarantee to give young people the skills and confidence they need to find they job that is right for them.