Do we really need to bribe companies to help young people find work? The Government obviously thinks so and Nick Clegg intends to offer organisations more than £2,000 for each unemployed youth they place in education or employment.
This “payments by results” scheme is designed to prevent young people spending a long period out of work. The UK currently has nearly 1.2 million young Neets (people not in employment or education), 150,000 of whom are under the age of 18. 55,000 of the Neets in the 16 to 17 age bracket do not possess good passes at GCSE and they have a high risk of spending long periods out of work.
£126 million is to be set aside to fund outside bodies that will offer support to Neets and provide them with skills training and practice in interview techniques. Private sector groups and charities will be paid based on their success with Neets. The most successful will receive £2,200 for every client; money which will be taken from the budgets of the Department for Work and Pensions and the education department.
Mr Clegg points out that it’s a tragedy that young people have to sit at home doing nothing. Although this is not a new problem, we must improve our efforts to provide teenagers with the confidence, skills and opportunities they need to become successful. The new scheme is part of the Deputy PM’s £1 billion fund to tackle the problem of youth unemployment.
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