Government proposes help for long term unemployed

Sunday, 11 January 2009 3:50 PM

By Matthew West

Proposals to help people who have been out of work for more than six months back to work are to be announced by the government this week.

James Purnell, the work and pensions secretary said the government wanted to avoid "writing off a generation if they become long-term unemployed".

Details will be announced on Monday as Gordon Brown chairs a job summit.

Last month Mr Purnell set out proposals that would force many benefit claimants back into work or face penalties.

Mr Purnell said the government was determined to prevent people falling into a vicious circle of unemployment.

"The really key thing is not to repeat mistakes of the past and to write off a whole generation if they become long-term unemployed.

"If people do become long-term unemployed it's much, much harder for them to get back into work."

He added the government would be providing "extra help, more real help to make sure that people if they have been out of work for six months get more support so they can get back into the labour market."

The Conservatives accused the government of adopting many of their proposals, but want to study the details.

Shadow work and pensions secretary Chris Grayling said: "We have already had a string of either fake or exaggerated announcements on jobs this week from the government.

"At a time when it is clear the government's policies on the recession are not working, ministers need to show that this latest set of initiatives have some substance behind them - and are not just more spin and re-announcement."

Mr Purnell will outline the ways in which more training, advice and incentives for employers will be made available ahead of the jobs summit.

Meanwhile former health secretary Alan Milburn is being brought back to frontline politics.

Mr Milburn will chair a panel of industry leaders to help people from disadvantaged backgrounds progress in key professions.

In a Sunday Times article he said he would try to ensure "the best people, regardless of their backgrounds, have a fair crack of the whip".

Measures to promote social mobility are to be set out in a White Paper on Tuesday.

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• economy
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• employment