Almost 12,000 unemployed adults in eight regions of the UK will be able to take education and training courses for up to a year without losing benefits under new expanded Workskill pilots, launched by employment minister Alan Howarth this week.
The scheme, started last year by the Conservatives for 4,000 students and trainees, is being piloted in Glasgow, Dumbarton, Lancashire, Cumbria, south and south-east London, Wiltshire, Avon and Somerset. Schemes have been revamped under the so-called New Deal and participants. who have been out of work for two years. are not required to be available for work.
