YOUTH BOOST
APPRENTICESHIPS will be given a huge boost after the Chancellor announced the Government would plough in more cash for on-job training.
The initiative to help boost young worker's chances to getting a job after being hit hard by the coronavirus crisis will give firms £2,000 for creating new apprenticeship roles.
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The Chancellor said today in his mini-budget speech: "So for the next six months, we’re going to pay employers to create new apprenticeships.
"We’ll pay businesses to hire young apprentices, with a new payment of £2,000."
The scheme will also pay for businesses to take on apprentices over the age of 55 with a bonus of £1,500.
He said he refused to allow young people - hit hard by the economic impact coronavirus - become a lost generation of workers.
He said: "Today, we act, with a plan for jobs.
"Our plan has a clear goal: to protect, support and create jobs.
"It will give businesses the confidence to retain and hire.
"To create jobs in every part of our country. To give young people a better start. To give people the opportunity of a fresh start.”
The announcement comes after growing fears young people's earnings could be permanently scarred because of lockdown, and the IPPR think-tank forecast unemployment for under-25s could double to just over one million by the end of 2020.
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Mr Sunak added: "In particular the help we want to provide for those who will be hardest hit by this crisis: younger people.
"Over 700,000 people are leaving education this year. Many more are just starting out in their careers.
"Coronavirus has hit them hard - under 25s are two and a half times as likely to work in a sector that has been closed."
"If the first phase of our economic phase was about protection, and the second phase today is about jobs, there will come a third phase to rebuild."
He vowed the Government would "heal the wounds" of the coronavirus pandemic.
The Apprenticeship Levy already incentivises large firms to take on apprentices, but small firms will now also be given a cash bonus for taking them on.
The scheme to boost apprentice roles for young people is in addition to plans to get more firms to take on trainees for 6 weeks - 6 months by offering them £1,000 for every trainee.
The Chancellor announced today:
- A stamp duty holiday for homes up to £500,000 to get the housing market moving
- Vouchers worth up to £5000 each for home-owners to spend on making their places more energy efficient
- A ‘kickstart’ jobs placement programme where the Government will fund 25 hours a week to an employer to take on a young person for at least six months
- A huge boost in apprenticeships – and a £1000 in extra cash for firms who take on trainees
- Employers will get a £1,000 bonus per worker they re-employ from furlough in a £9billion boost for firms
- A massive cut to VAT will help out the hospitality sector - and allow Brits to dine out half price Monday to Wednesday
The Chancellor said there would be extra support to sector-based work academies, who provide training and work placements.
The scheme will get young people into work and stay in work, Mr Sunak said 91 per cent of apprentices stay in work or do further training afterwards.
The massive cut to VAT announced by the Chancellor will allow Brits to eat out at half price, for up to £10 discount per head from Monday-Wednesday in August.
But it will also help protect jobs - primarily young and low earners.
Around 130,000 businesses are eligible for the scheme dubbed "Eat Out to Help Out" and is designed to support 1.8 million jobs which are disproportionately young, female and part-time workers.
The entire package was part of a three-stage coronavirus economic recovery programme.
The first stage - laid out at the start of lockdown - protected jobs and businesses from going under as the country closed up shop.
This next stage announced today aims to create a bridge to ensure furloughed workers aren't laid off across the country and people who missed out on opportunities were able to find them.
Boris Johnson's promise to "level up" Britain set to be announced in the Autumn budget will form the final stage to help "rebuild" the nation.
Matthew Lesh, Head of Research at the Adam Smith Institute think-tank, welcomed the initiatives to help young people.
He said: "The Covid-19 virus harms older people the most, but the economic lockdown is destroying life opportunities for young people.
"They are losing jobs in hospitality and retail and will find it harder to get onto the jobs ladder, risking a long-term loss of income.
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"The Government is rightly focusing on getting young people into real jobs, rather than establishing expensive make-work schemes.
"This wage subsidy scheme will get many young people onto the job ladder, building skills that will make them employable in the future."
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