The government has pledged £1 billion to provide subsidised work and training placements to help tackling the growing number of unemployed youths across the UK. 

The youth contract scheme will last for three years and will offer employers subsidies worth £2,275 to take on approximately 160,000 18-to-24-year-olds for a six month period. When asked about the initiative, deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg stated that the initiative wouldn’t “be paid for by one single tax or spending measure”.

Paul Davis, managing director of Perspective, commented: “We are happy to hear the government’s plans to introduce this subsidised work and training initiative. The number of UK ‘Neets’ and youth unemployment have continued to grow throughout the year, reaching a record high of 1.2 million in September. Hopefully this initiative will go some way to incentivise employers into reducing this high level of unemployment.”

Further to the subsidies for employers, the government has announced a number of other proposals to tackle youth unemployment, including a proposal for 250,000 young people to be offered work experience placements lasting up to eight weeks, a £50 million programme for 25,000 disadvantaged 16-and 17-year-olds, and at least 20,000 additional incentive payments for firms in England to take on apprentices.