Welsh jobs help scheme is expanded

A KEY Welsh Government-funded programme to help get people most disadvantaged in the labour market into work will be expanded in 2023 following the winding-up of two existing Eu-funded programmes, Economy Minister Vaughan Gething has announced.

The Welsh Government is stepping in to fund the expansion of the Communities for Work Plus (CFW+) employability programme following what it claims is the UK Government’s failure to honour repeated promises that Wales would not be a penny worse-off following the UK departure from the EU.

Under the EU Structural and Investment Funds, the Welsh Government invested funds in a range of schemes led by the public, higher and further education, third and private sectors, including those to help people into work. Two of those schemes are Communities for Work (CFW) and Parents, Childcare and Employment (PACE).

The UK Government is directly allocating replacement EU funding, at a diminished level, through the Uk-wide Shared Prosperity Fund, which the Welsh Government claims is overriding Welsh devolution, meaning it now has less say over less money.

In response, Mr Gething has confirmed the Welsh Government will step in to fund the expansion of the Wales-wide CFW+ programme from April 2023, doubling its original £12m annual budget.

He said: “Despite the promise made by the UK Government that Wales would not be worse off from the UK leaving the EU, the reality is we are facing a loss of more than £1bn.

“The Welsh Government cannot fill the massive hole the UK Government has created in our budget, which means we and our Welsh partners, who previously benefited from EU funding, will need to take tough decisions on what to fund in future. While UK Ministers talk about ‘levelling up’, it’s this Welsh Government that’s delivering for people by funding transformative programmes that help to change lives for the better.”