The government has announced a new ‘youth jobs guarantee’ aimed at tackling long-term youth unemployment.
Speaking at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool, chancellor Rachel Reeves said that every young person will be “guaranteed either a place in a college, for those who want to continue their studies, or an apprenticeship, to help them learn a trade vital to our plans to rebuild the country, or one-to-one support to help them find a job”.
This guarantee mans that every young person who has been out of work or not in education or training for 18 months will receive a paid work placement. It is thought that those who refuse to take on a job without a “reasonable excuse” will lose their benefits or face other penalties.
Reeves said: “We won’t leave a generation of young people to languish without prospects, denied the dignity, denied the security and the ladders of opportunity that good work provides.
“Just as the last Labour government achieved that with a new deal, I commit this Labour government to nothing less than the abolition of long term youth unemployment.”
Tina McKenzie, policy chair of the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), welcomed the announcement. She said:
“This is a hugely important announcement – offering thousands of young people a crucial chance in life.
“Reprioritising spending from employment programmes which aren’t working to this type of scheme is exactly the way to get much-needed bang for taxpayer cash. This was a key plank of FSB’s submissions on spending plans for the Department of Work and Pensions earlier this year.
“It is a welcome commitment that – done right – will help small businesses do what they do best, provide jobs in our local communities, and help those who need it most get into work.
“Key to getting the details right is making sure there is a backstop offer to those who are now over-25, particularly those with health challenges; that young people out of work for health reasons are not excluded through misguided double funding rules; and that small businesses are enabled to play a full role in the delivery of the scheme.
“We look forward to working with the Treasury to get the important details of this announcement right, and we hope it heralds a pro-jobs, pro-self-employment, pro-business, pro-growth Budget in two months’ time.”
The Conservative’s shadow chancellor Sir Mel Stride accused Reeves of a contradiction in her policies.
He said: “Rachel Reeves says she wants to abolish youth unemployment – yet in her very first Budget, she introduced a £25bn jobs tax that made it more expensive for businesses to hire, especially young people.
“That’s the contradiction at the heart of Labour’s plan: they talk about opportunity, but their policies kill jobs.”