Chancellor’s £2bn Kickstart pledge to revive the jobs market for young
RISHI Sunak will today unveil an ambitious “Plan for Jobs” to bounce Britain out of the coronavirus slump – with £2billion to save youngsters from the scourge of unemployment.
In a mini-budget at Westminster, the Chancellor will declare his “Kickstart” scheme to be his top priority.
He is also expected to trigger an immediate stamp duty holiday for most property sales to rejuvenate the housing market, as well as unleashing a “New Deal” surge in construction and green renovation projects.
Revolution
Ahead of today’s Commons statement, the Chancellor 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.”
Mr Sunak will promise a “young jobs revolution” designed to save the country from the soaring levels of youth unemployment last seen in the 1980s.
Under his £2billion Kickstart Scheme, the Government will pay employers to provide hundreds of thousands of “high quality” sixmonth work placements for workers aged between 18 and 24.
Youngsters claiming Universal Credit who are currently at risk of long-term unemployment will be eligible for the scheme.
The Treasury will fund 100 per cent of the National Minimum Wage for workers on the scheme for 25 hours a week. Employers will be able to top up the wages further.
Mr Sunak believes the six-month placements will give youngsters the chance to learn skills and gain vital experience to improve their chances of finding long-term jobs.
Treasury data suggests younger workers are far more likely to have been furloughed during the lockdown than others.
At the same time, the number of people aged under 25 claiming jobless benefits has increased by a quarter since the lockdown began in March. Ministers also fear that many youngsters leaving full-time education this summer will face an extremely difficult jobs market.
Mr Sunak will also announce a £111million investment to triple the number of traineeships in the current financial year and a further £17million to triple the number of work academy placements in 2020-21.
His three-point Plan for Jobs will include measures designed to protect existing jobs, support firms through the coming months and create new jobs for the future.
Other key measures to be announced today include a £5billion package of infrastructure spending on roads, hospitals and schools to trigger a construction boom.
And a further £3billion package designed to make Britain’s economy “greener” will also be unveiled. It will include grants of up to £5,000 to make hundreds of thousands of homes more environmentally friendly.
Homeowners will be able to spend the cash on loft, wall and floor insulation, eco-friendly boil
ers, heat pumps, double or tripleglazed windows, low-energy lighting and energy-efficient doors.
The Green Homes Grant scheme is designed to provide extra work for plumbers, builders and other tradesmen to get the economy motoring.
Treasury officials have also been studying a temporary six-month increase in the stamp duty threshold from the current level of £125,000 to an amount between £300,000 and £500,000, to stimulate the housing market, seen as a key driver of economic growth. At Treasury questions in the Commons yesterday, the Chancellor insisted he was “proud” of the measures the Government has taken to support the economy through the lockdown.
He said: “I am proud of what this Government have put in place and the speed at which we did so.”
He added: “The Government has taken unprecedented steps to keep as many people as possible in their existing jobs, support viable businesses to stay afloat and protect the incomes of the most vulnerable.” Mike Cherry, chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses, last night said: “The Chancellor needs to take a jobs first approach. Bringing down employment costs and increasing opportunities will be central to recovering from this recession.
“After the financial crash, nine in 10 people who left unemployment to re-join the workforce did so through a small business or selfemployment, so it’s clear where support should be targeted.”
Labour’s shadow chancellor Anneliese Dodds said the Kickstart programme is based on her party’s Future Jobs Fund.
Support
She said: “However, the Government is yet to rise to the scale of the unemployment crisis.
“The urgent priority right now is to prevent additional unnecessary unemployment in the first place by abandoning the Government’s one-size-fits-all approach to the removal of the Job Retention and Self-Employed schemes.
“In addition, older people who become unemployed and those living in particularly hard-hit areas, will also need tailored support.”