Future Jobs No More

The Newham College and Capital Enterprise ”Future Job” scheme has been cancelled. We were informed by letter last Friday that our Future Job scheme to create 86 jobs in our membership, exclusively for long term unemployed young people from East London, was no longer to be funded. To directly quote the letter from the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) a decision was made “to only issue Grant awards for jobs which are to be delivered:

* in May and June this year; and
* in Local Authority areas where the Department has identified that a clear shortage of FJF jobs (i.e., fewer than 20) is likely to arise between now and the end-June.

It appears that the civil servants have decided that one of the first cut-backs of the incoming government will be to stop the out-going governments “Future Job” scheme. Since neither the Tories or Liberals are planning a replacement, there looks to be no more  money in London to help pay employers to take on and train the long term unemployed.

Although the “Future Job” scheme was not perfect by a million miles, it is a big shame that all the hard work done by Capital Enterprise members, particularly Newham College, to create new entry level jobs for young people has been wasted and that 86 young people in East London will now have to find alternative routes back into work. It will not be easy for them, for in London according to DWP’s own figures, there are 10 people on the dole chasing every job vacancy.

It is also an indication that the cuts to programmes to support the unemployed and small enterprises will probably come quicker than we expected. I think it is significant that the letter was e-mailed after the “Prime Minister Debates” on Thursday, when it became apparent to anyone watching, that Gordon Brown’s Labour Party were not going to win the election. The civil servants in Whitehall have apparently decided that programmes associated with the Labour Party’s “Government Interventionist” strategy on the recession, were not going to be continued by a new Tory or Tory-Lib Dem government.

I say this because only 7 days previously the DWP were informing Capital Enterprise and our members that they wanted us to see more bids from us to run Future Job schemes in London. So something must of happened over the 7 days. Alternatively, since the DWP has never moved this quickly in the past, they may have been preparing to dump measures like “Future Jobs” for some time and Friday seemed the most apt time to let us know. 

What it says to me, is that the cuts in existing programmes may come quicker than expected and that we do not have until 2011 to devise alternative funding models to the way we help businesses start, grow and create jobs.