Spending Review: Rishi Sunak to pledge £3bn to help unemployed

Rishi Sunak will use his Spending Review tomorrow to announce a fighting fund worth almost £3billion to help one million unemployed people find work as the UK tries to recover from the coronavirus crisis. 

The Chancellor will set out the details of a new three-year, £2.9billion Restart scheme which will provide tailored support to long-term job seekers. 

He will also pledge an additional £1.4billion of funding to increase capacity at the nation’s Job Centre Plus sites as the Government tries to get UK PLC back on its feet. 

Mr Sunak is also expected to unveil tens of billions of pounds worth of investment in major infrastructure projects. 

The Treasury said the proposals will ‘create and support hundreds of thousands of jobs across the UK’. 

Chancellor Rishi Sunak will tomorrow use his Spending Review to announce a fighting fund worth almost £3billion to help the unemployed back into work

Mr Sunak will also pledge an additional £1.4billion to help boost capacity at the nation’s Job Centre Plus sites

Mr Sunak will use the Spending Review to set out the Government’s fiscal commitments for the next financial year.

He is expected to use the address to the House of Commons to outline how he intends to help the UK recover from the pandemic.  

The Government is braced for a wave of redundancies between now and April amid fears the combination of the first and second national lockdowns as well as the draconian curbs planned from December 2 will be too much for some businesses to survive. 

Mr Sunak will announce a new Restart scheme specifically designed to help people back into work. 

The £2.9billion initiative will be spread over three years and will include measures to help people who have been out of work for more than 12 months. 

They will be provided with ‘regular, intensive jobs support’ which will be ‘tailored to their circumstances’.

The first year of the scheme in 2021/22 will see a £400million initial investment with more cash to be spent after that. 

Meanwhile, ministers hope that spending £1.4billion to improve Job Centre Plus sites will make it easier for people searching for work to get the support they need.        

Speaking on the eve of the Spending Review, Mr Sunak said: ‘My number one priority is to protect jobs and livelihoods across the UK.

‘This Spending Review will ensure hundreds of thousands of jobs are supported and protected in the acute phase of this crisis and beyond with a multi-billion package of investment to ensure that no one is left without hope or opportunity.’

Mr Sunak is also expected to confirm funding for the next stage of his so-called ‘Plan for Jobs’ which will include £1.6billion for the Kickstart scheme in 2021/22 to help create up to 250,000 government-subsidised jobs for young people. 

An incentive for businesses to hire more apprentices, launched in August, will also be extended. 

The scheme offers employers up to £2,000 for every new apprentice they hire and it will now last until the end of March next year.

Some £375million will also be allocated to support skills, including £138million to deliver on Boris Johnson’s Lifetime Skills Guarantee. 

The Spending Review will confirm ‘ambitious plans’ for capital investment which will include money for new roads, houses, railways and cycle lanes. 

Mr Sunak hopes these projects will ‘support and create hundreds of thousands of jobs across the country’.