The chancellor is set to announce a £2 billion “kickstart scheme” to create work placements for young people.

The scheme will subsidise placements for 16- to 24-year-olds on universal credit and at risk of long-term unemployment, leading to “hundreds of thousands of new, high-quality government-subsidised jobs”, the government has said. 

News: Traineeships to get £111m boost from Treasury

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Background: Apprenticeship starts almost halve during lockdown

Six-month work placements

Under the new initiative, which chancellor Rishi Sunak will announce as part of his speech on the government’s plans for the economy tomorrow, employers will be able to offer six-month work placements, with the government covering 100 per cent of the national minimum wage for 25 hours a week.

Employers will be able to top up this wage. The kickstart scheme will be open to funding applications from August, and the first jobs will begin in the autumn. It will apply across Great Britain, and Northern Ireland will receive additional funding in respect of the scheme.

The government said the jobs would give young people the opportunity to build their skills in the workplace, and to gain experience that will improve their chances of going on to find long-term sustainable work.

The chancellor is also expected to announce a £111 million investment to triple the scale of traineeships in 2020-21, an extra £32m for the National Careers Service to provide tailored jobs advice to a quarter of a million more young people, and £17 million of funding to almost triple the number of sector-based work academy placements in 2020-21.

Rishi Sunak, said: “Young people bear the brunt of most economic crises, but they are at particular risk this time because they work in the sectors disproportionately hit by the pandemic.

“We also know that youth unemployment has a long-term impact on jobs and wages and we don’t want to see that happen to this generation. So we’ve got a bold plan to protect, support and create jobs - a plan for jobs.”

Association of Employment and Learning Providers chief executive Mark Dawe said: “It is fantastic that the government has listened to us and is paying half a young person’s annual salary. We would hope that most employers would put these young people on to an apprenticeship. We will listen with interest to the full package tomorrow to see whether there are any additional announcements over and above those we have already heard about.”

Toby Perkins, Labour’s shadow apprenticeships and lifelong learning minister, said: “It looks like a welcome start. But we will only be able to see its worth in the wider context of the whole skills package that is needed to help people transition from the pre-Covid economy to the post-Covid one - and skills, not just government subsidising your work will need to play a significant part of that.”