Page updated 16 December 2009
Young Person’s Guarantee
The 2009 Budget announced the Young Person's Guarantee. This guarantees all 18 to 24 year olds who are coming towards the 12 month stage of their claim to Jobseeker’s Allowance (JSA):
- An offer of a job (either a new job through the Future Jobs Fund or an existing job in a key employment sector).
- Work focused training.
- A place on a Community Task Force.
The Guarantee will start in 2010 but we will make some elements available before then. The first of these jobs started in October this year.
The December White Paper, Building Britain's Recovery: Achieving Full Employment, announced that from January 2010, 18–24 year olds will be guaranteed a job, work placement or work related skills training from the six month point of their claim to JSA.
From April 2010, young people reaching 10 months on JSA will be required to take-up one of the offers from the Young Persons Guarantee, the six month offer or from the Backing Young Britain menu. This will ensure that no young adult is permanently disadvantaged by the recession.
Backing Young Britain
As part of our commitment to do more to help young people, we have recently launched the 'Backing Young Britain' campaign. The Backing Young Britain campaign is a rallying call to businesses, charities and government bodies to create more opportunities for young people. They are being asked to commit to at least one of the following initiatives:
- To become a volunteer mentor for school or university leavers to help them find their feet in the jobs market
- Provide work experience places, volunteering places or a work trial to help young people learn about work, make contacts and fill their CV
- Offer an internship for a graduate
- Create a new internship for 18-year-olds and non-graduates to give them a chance to prove themselves
- Provide an apprenticeship for 16 to 24-year-olds
- Joining a Local Employment Partnership to make sure job vacancies are advertised to local unemployed people
- Bid for one of the 100,000 jobs for young people in the Government’s Future Jobs Fund.
- Backing young Britain (HM Government website)