Devolution money will be used to aid people who have lost their jobs
PLANS TO invest £ 13.5 million of West Yorkshire’s devolution funding to significantly expand support for skills, training and job seekers in response to the Covid- 19 pandemic were agreed by the area’s political leaders.
The skills plans outlined by West Yorkshire Combined Authority are designed to partially fill the gap in Government support for businesses and people affected by the national lockdown and the return to tiered restrictions next week.
The combined authority will use £ 13.5 million of funding secured through the West Yorkshire devolution deal to help over 10,000 people in the region, who have been made redundant or are at risk of redundancy, to build new skills and access training or find work over the next two years.
It comes after Chancellor Rishi Sunak unveiled a £ 4bn levellingup
fund in this week’s spending review to tackle regional inequalities.
Susan Hinchcliffe, chair of the West Yorkshire Combined Authority, the Future- Ready Skills Commission and leader of Bradford Council, said: “From what was announced in the spending review, it is clear that the centralised levelling- up fund will not deliver the accelerated recovery from the Covid- 19 pandemic our region needs.
“Rather than waiting for Government to do more, it’s vital that we invest in the region now. This is why we are investing our own hard- won devolution money into a multi- million pound skills programme to support people right across the region into work. We have to invest in a people- powered recovery to get us through these difficult times.
“We won’t let Government off the hook though. We will continue to press them to support the West Yorkshire Economic Recovery Plan which has been designed to create up to 70,000 jobs. With unemployment set to rise rapidly next year, the region needs and deserves this investment.”
Unemployment in West Yorkshire has risen by 87 per cent from 57,000 to over 106,000 since the first national lockdown began in March, with young people and those with lower skills and qualifications the most affected.