will today (TUE) outline a ‘ New Scottish Skills
Benefit’ as part of Scottish Labour’s National Recovery Plan for
Jobs.
The policy would help those out-of-work, furloughed or in
at-risk industries to retrain to find high-skilled jobs.
As part of Scottish Labour’s plan, those currently on
furlough or Universal Credit - a total estimated to reach around
600,000 by June - would receive an average of £500 to pay for the
training in addition to up to £750 for attendance for those
unemployed, while still guaranteed access to their
benefits.
In the future, those in the sectors hardest hit by ongoing
structural changes in Scotland's economy - including retail and
oil and gas - would become eligible for the programme in order to
help meet the cost of retraining while in work.
The announcement comes after the Office of National
Statistics warned that unemployment in Scotland rose to 4.3 per
cent between March and May.
This was a rise of 0.6 percentage points from the previous
quarter and the highest rate of unemployment in the UK.
The figures also showed that 53,000 fewer people were in
employment in Scotland since the previous year.
At the end of January 360,000 Scots were furloughed.
Speaking ahead of his job plan launch,
said: “This pandemic has created a jobs
crisis in Scotland, and it is far from over.
“More than 360,000 of our fellow citizens in Scotland are
still on furlough and by June a further 210,000 are expected to
be unemployed. That ends in September and many are anxious about
whether they will have a job to go back to.
“Put simply, we have five months to come up with a plan to
stop mass unemployment.
“That’s why it’s time to ditch the old politics of division
and focus instead on national recovery so that we can protect and
create jobs.
“The SNP has squandered the opportunity to retrain
Scotland's workforce and we certainly can’t rely on Tories
because they want to return us to the old failed economic
thinking.
“And as our economy changes, those left behind by Covid or
in at-risk industries deserve the support of the government to
help find a job to guarantee their future.
"It’s only by using both votes for Scottish Labour that you
can guarantee we have a parliament focused on creating jobs and a
national recovery.”
ENDS
NOTES TO EDITORS
The CIPD has called for enhanced Individual Learner
Accounts:https://www.cipd.co.uk/Images/skills-to-grow-ila-scotland_tcm18-88939.pdf
The New Scottish Skills benefit is based on strengthening
the model of Individual Learner Accounts to support career
progression and redirection.
It would prioritise first supporting the unemployed and
those currently on furlough to retrain and re-skill, by
increasing the existing ITA subsidy from £200 to £500, and paying
living wage for tuition and study time (estimated at an average
of c.80 hours per course), while continuing to pay Universal
Credit subsidisation.
The second phase will focus on the sectors already
undergoing structural change and unlikely to retain the same
number of employees in 10 years time - the largest being Oil and
Gas and Retail - to be able to access new training and skills
whilst still in work.
The addition of wage support will make this scheme
substantially more attractive to employers and workers than the
Scottish Tories' proposed 'Retrain to Rebuild' grant.
As part of this, these workers will receive the increased
£500 level to retrain while receiving additional income
subsidisation for 6 months to be able to attend.
The income support will amount to a c.£750 wage subsidy
based on government funding the living wage for c.80 hours. For
these employers, this will represent a future cost saving, given
benefits of no longer having to hire contractors / freelance
staff with adequate skills required.
Cost and Funding
We anticipate the total cost of the first COVID year of the
New Skills Benefit to be £250m-£300m, then to reduce to around
£100m per year.
This funding will predominantly come from the Scottish
budget and unallocated Barnett consequentials.
