Government urged to fund charity jobs for NEET young people
Joe Lepper
Thursday, January 14, 2021
A report backed by charities and a cross-party group of MPs is calling on the government to pay young people to work for charities, to mitigate against “the long-term scarring of unemployment” caused by the coronavirus pandemic.
The move would help charities better support their local communities as well as provide employment for young people not in education, employment or training (NEET).
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The ‘year in service’ recommendation has been made in the Policies of Belonging report by think tank Onward and backed by MPs including education select committee chair and Conservative MP for Harlow, Robert Halfon and Labour MP for Dagenham, Jon Cruddas.
Charities and social organisations to back the report include Joseph Rowntree Foundation, Shelter and Catch 22.
Under the proposal, young people aged between 18 and 24 would be offered national minimum wage jobs at charities for a year, with their salaries met by the government.
The report cites latest figures showing that between March and September the number of young people in this age group claiming unemployment benefits increased by 2294,400.
A third of 18-to 24-year-olds have lost jobs or been furloughed and young people are twice as likely to have lost a job amid the pandemic than older workers.
Work suggested in the report includes tutoring young children, supporting care home residents, tree planting and teaching English to migrants.
The report has been written to develop ideas of how communities can be effectively supported as the UK recovers from the Covid-19 crisis.
The ‘year to serve’ “presents an opportunity for the government to support young people and to bolster the civic sector by helping young people to serve their communities, the report states.
“A 'year to serve' scheme, through which young people are paid the national minimum wage to undertake socially useful jobs, would generate social capital as well as reducing economic displacement among young people,” it adds.
The charity jobs initiative could be developed within the government’s Kickstart scheme, which covers wages and administrative costs for employers taking on young workers, says the report.
Already the charity Catch 22 is developing a scheme called Kickstart Community, which offers young people a job, training as well as volunteering opportunities.
Other countries have also developed schemes where young unemployed people are offered paid jobs for good causes. This includes Service Civique in France and AmeriCorps in the US.
The year to service scheme “would also tap into deep political support for service” through “introducing some form of National Service". A survey by Onward found that two thirds of people back a national service scheme.
Onward director Will Tanners said: “Everyone focuses on the impact of lockdown on the economy but the truth is that the pandemic has taken a terrible toll on the social fabric of our lives, compounding the long-term decline of community over recent decades.
“As we emerge – finally – from the pandemic, we need to not just revive a flatlining economy, we need to take steps to empower and recapitalise communities, to give people back a sense of belonging and rekindle the social networks and institutions upon which we all rely.”