Details on how a £158 million fund will be used to help people who have lost or fear losing their jobs were announced by the Government today
17 December 2008
The fund will be used to make it easier and quicker for people to get advice on careers and work related training helping them find secure jobs. Boosted by an extra £58m from when it was first announced it is paid for by both Government training funds and the European Social Fund.
The fund builds on commitments already made to increase funding for adult training and careers advice and it will improve access to the support already available for people who are out of work or at risk of losing their job. The Government already invests £4.5 billion on adult training and this fund will open up this funding to help ensure more of that spending is targeted at helping people find work.
It will ensure that more services are targeted at people who are at risk or have very recently lost their jobs rather than just the long term unemployed. And because colleges and other training providers are being asked to bid for funds it will ensure people can access advice through other routes rather than just those bodies associated with claiming welfare support.
In particular it will help deliver:
- Additional money for short term pre-employment training, in particular the fund will support an additional 40,000 people who need new skills or pre-job training in order to get work. This is in addition to the public funding already available for many vocational courses.
- From early next year an increased provision of advice on careers and the training available to help people get the jobs that are available. This will be accessed through Job Centre Plus or the national Careers Advice Service over the phone or online. It is in addition to the £50m already committed by the Government to fund the development of the national Careers Advice Service in 2010-11.
- New support for employers so that when they take on people who are currently out work, and claiming benefits so they can access free support for certain training even if the employee already has an equivalent level qualification - so that they can refresh old qualifications or obtain new ones.
- An increased focus on regional co-ordination to ensure that local bodies and colleges react much quicker to redundancies so that people losing jobs can be quickly notified of relevant opportunities and suitable training organised. It will help ensure that where necessary this support can be provided quickly and on-site so people can immediately access the help available.
Secretary of State for Skills, John Denham said:
"Now more than ever, it is important that we do what we can to help people who have been recently made redundant or are worried about being unemployed. The measures will mean that many more people will have real help to find or stay in work.
"By increasing the advice on offer and improving access to training we will ensure that more is made of the £4.5 billion the Government already spends on skills. This will help make it more relevant to those that have been recently made or fear being made redundant.
"It is not the only support the Government can offer but it is an important part of it and we remain committed to always doing what we can to help people where necessary. "
Research shows that acquiring skills and qualifications has long term benefits for both individuals and the economy with both positive effects on job retention and earnings. For instance holding a vocational NVQ3 as a highest qualification is associated with an increased employment rate of around 11 percentage points for men and 22 percentage points for women.
The fund will ensure that more people can get advice and support on how to access similar training. In particular it will help ensure that colleges are key to improving people's job prospects even in the current tough economic times.
It is in recognition of this, alongside this announcement, DIUS is today publishing FE Works: supporting individuals, employers and communities, which shows how many colleges and training providers are already rising to the challenge of helping individuals and businesses through the economic downturn and emerge stronger. This is particularly done by working closely with local businesses to help people who might face redundancy get the training they need either to stay in work or find new work.
Notes to editors
1. The £158m of funding from ESF and Train to Gain will enable existing Train to Gain providers and those approved to deliver this kind of provision to tender to deliver a holistic package. This will support both employers and individuals. These arrangements will ensure that employers are able to access an end-to-end package of recruitment support through to ongoing training in the workplace. In addition, individuals facing redundancy will be able to access training to provide them with the economically valuable skills they need to re-enter the labour market. This procurement and contracting process has already started. In January the LSC will be contacting providers who have demonstrated that they are capable of delivering this provision. They will be invited to submit tenders for delivery to meet market need.
2. The Government announced on 29 October that an additional £50m will be available from 2010-11 to fund increased capacity across the whole careers advice service (the national Careers Advice Service and local nextstep services).
3. The Government announced on 15 October 2008 that a cash injection of £100m would be invested over the next three years to help people who lose their jobs. The extra money will be available for people currently facing redundancy and those looking for work to help them retrain and develop their skills so they can quickly move back into sustainable employment. For further details, please see the press notice.
4. The Pre Budget Report, published on 24 November 2008, announced the following to ensure those facing redundancy and those seeking employment are helped back into work as quickly as possible:
- an additional £1.3 billion to continue delivering effective support for the unemployed to find a new job;
- a National Employment Partnership, bringing together the Government and major employers to tackle rising unemployment; and
- refocusing Train to Gain to provide support in pre-redundancy situations, expanding the Rapid Response Service to target small and large scale redundancies and extending Local Employment Partnerships to focus on the short-term unemployed.
5. On 18 November 2008, Skills Secretary John Denham confirmed that DIUS funding for the Learning & Skills Council (LSC) in the next financial year would increase to over £4.5 billion, and challenged colleges to play a greater role in helping people and businesses deal with the current economic downturn. For further details, please see the press notice.
6. October Labour Market Statistics show over 500,000 current job vacancies across the UK. There is more support available for getting people into work. Jobcentre Plus offers one-on-one support, individually tailored training, and increased involvement of employers through Local Employment Partnerships, guaranteed interview schemes, and work trials. Jobcentre Plus alone takes over 10,000 new vacancies every day and many more come up through other routes.
7. FE Works: supporting individuals, employers and communities, which highlights the work colleges and training providers are currently doing to help individuals and businesses through the economic downturn is published today and can be found in the FE Good Practice Guide
(538 KB).
8. The evidence on acquiring skills and qualifications to boost job retention and employment earnings can be found from: Jenkins et al (2007): The Returns to Qualifications in England, Updating the Evidence Base on Level 2 and Level 3 Vocational Qualifications and CEE Discussion Paper no. 89, De Coulon and Vignoles: An Analysis of the benefit of NVQ2 qualifications acquired at age 26-34.