Listen to thisUK
UK government should look to Scotland to give young a chance
Tens of thousands of young people are being denied one of life’s key big breaks – a first foot on to the ladder of the world of work. Many of these young people are highly skilled and well educated. They are motivated and they want to work. The sad fact is that in many ways they face a dilemma that’s beyond their control. They are victims of their year of birth but the third sector is creating fresh hope for Scotland’s young unemployed people.
The Scottish Government-funded Community Jobs Scotland programme has created more than 1,850 paid work opportunities to young unemployed people in third sector organisations in every part of Scotland.
The programme created by Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations and delivered in partnership with Social Enterprise Scotland is far out-performing other employment schemes. In fact, an independent evaluation of its performance by the University of Glasgow’s Training & Employment Research Unit found that 40% of young people on the scheme went on to find full-time employment afterwards.
Community Jobs Scotland is based on the highly successful Future Jobs Fund scheme, also delivered in Scotland by the Scottish Council for Voluntary Organisations, which was set up by the Labour Government but scrapped by the current UK Government in 2010. Long-term unemployed young people are offered a job for six months with a voluntary organisation of at least 25 hours a week. Benefit payments forgone and tax and National Insurance contributions account for at least half of the total cost.
Against the backdrop of the most difficult job market in decades and compared to success rates of just 3.5% and 14% of young people finding jobs through UK Government Work Programme schemes, Scotland’s third sector has proved that it can help young people get into work.
Interestingly, most employers cited their motivation for joining the scheme as being to provide work experience or develop the skills of the unemployed, but the evaluation also highlights benefits for the employers themselves. 81% of contractors rated the scheme either good or very good for supporting the development of third sector organisations and 90% of supervisors or line managers were satisfied or very satisfied with their employees.
The report also indicated that 71% of Community Jobs Scotland employers found the participants to have a positive attitude to work and 83% were impressed by their willingness to learn. Evidence if it were ever needed that young unemployed people are not the feckless, unmotivated individuals some might try to make them out to be.
Why does it succeed where others seem to be failing?
Community jobs Scotland focuses on young people and the skills they have. It
provides them with real, paid work. It does not take a negative, punitive
approach. If someone tells you to go and stack supermarket shelves or you’re
going to lose your benefits, how can you be expected to have anything other
than a negative attitude to that? These approaches alienate young people and
judging by the results we’re seeing so far, they simply don’t seem to work.
The Work Programme is not delivering for young people in Scotland or across
the UK. The UK Government needs to take note of Community Jobs Scotland’s
success and start investing in schemes that actually work.
Martin Sime
30 July 2012
