The UK government has revealed its plans to overhaul the current network of job centres across the country and invest £240m in a bid to reduce the benefits bill. This is part of its “Get Britain Working” reforms, which will also allocate funds to mental health services. The government said that such reforms will deal with the “biggest drivers of unemployment and inactivity”, but there is no confirmation yet on how such sanctions will work. Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer added that the government wants to provide young people with skills and opportunities to prepare them for the jobs of the future. In other proposed measures, there will be an independent review of the country’s employers to promote health and include workplaces, and several areas will get more cash to prevent people from falling out of work due to ill health.
The UK government aims to increase the employment rate to 80% from its current level of around 75%, which would mean two million more people going to work. However, the Conservatives accused the government of being “not prepared to take the tough but necessary choices to bring down the benefits bill”. In 2024 to 2025, the UK will spend £137.4bn on “working age and children” welfare, including universal credit spending, while it will spend £137.5bn on state pensions. The number of people considered economically inactive, which means not being employed or actively looking for work, has risen to more than nine million.
The Chartered Institute for Personal Development welcomed the UK government’s plan as “a step in the right direction” but called for “more ambition” to “make apprenticeships a viable alternative to university”. Meanwhile, Catherine Parsons, the overseer of the Big Issue Recruit, said that “scare tactics” would only worsen the country’s worker shortages. She added that “the new looming threat of having their benefits axed should they fail to summon the mental strength to accept work or training will only continue the vicious cycle of failure”.
Gary Wroe, managing director of a jewellery manufacturer in Birmingham, Hockley Mint, said that the Budget had “hindered” the company’s “growth opportunities”. Hockley Mint takes on a number of apprentices each year, and Abi, one of its current apprentices, said she knew of people who left school but never worked, partially because of Covid-19 lockdowns
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