Helping young people now (Bishop Auckland Liberal Democrats)

Bishop Auckland Liberal Democrats <mark@bishoplibdems.org.uk>

Helping young people now

January 23, 2010 12:14 PM

Young people feel cheated by this recession. Hundreds of thousands have left school, college and university with hopes of starting a career only to find they cannot even get on the lowest rung of the job ladder. We must give them help now or they will be left behind in any recovery.

We will make a promise to young people that they will not spend more than 90 days on Jobseekers Allowance before they get more training, education, an internship or a place on a work programme. We will do this by increasing the number of further education places, giving students financial support to return to college and creating a paid internship scheme.

Why is it necessary?

Almost 1 million young people are now unemployed and half have been out of work for more than six months. Without action unemployment amongst this age group could rise much higher. The longer these young people are locked out of work, the greater the risk that they will be trapped in long term unemployment and suffer from the destructive consequences such as poverty, depression and bad health.

Policy detail

This plan forms part of the Liberal Democrats' economic stimulus and job creation package. In our first year in office we will redirect over £3.6bn of spending to creating jobs and building up Britain's infrastructure. In the following years this money will be redirected to other Lib Dem spending priorities and reducing the structural deficit.

We will invest almost £900million in creating opportunities to help young people who are unemployed gain the skills and experience to move back in to work.

The 90 day promise

Under our proposals a young person would not claim Jobseekers Allowance (JSA) for more than three months without taking up training, a job or an internship. If they did not they would be fast-tracked onto a welfare to work programme such as the Flexible New Deal. At the moment a young person waits 12 months before being referred to a back to work programme which is too long.

Paid Internships

We will support young people while they get valuable work experience by paying anyone undertaking an internship a 'training allowance' of £55 a week (£5 more than JSA). This will help employers who want to offer young people work experience but cannot afford to pay them. We envisage that young people will do this for up to 3 months and receipt of the allowance will be dependent on attendance.

We will work with employers in the private and public sectors to ensure that there are a wide range of opportunities available.

More foundation degree places

Fund up to 15,000 more college-based foundation degree places over the next academic year. Foundation degrees focus on a particular job or profession and are the equivalent of two thirds of a full honours degree. They are fully flexible qualifications which allow students to study part-time or full-time to fit their lifestyle.

Financial help to go back to college

We will increase the Adult Learning Grant which is a means-tested benefit for 18-24 year olds studying their first level 2 or 3 qualifications (GCSE or A Level equivalent). We will increase the payments by £15 a week to £45 to provide young people who are eligible with a real choice between improving their skills and claiming Jobseekers Allowance.

Fully funded apprenticeships

Employers, already struggling under the pressures of the recession are expected to pay the off-the-job training costs of their apprentices. We will fully fund these courses so that employers aren't left out of pocket and more young people can be trained on the job.