Umbrella bodies have welcomed the creation of the £1bn government fund to tackle youth unemployment but stress that the voluntary sector must be involved in its delivery.
The Youth Contract was announced yesterday. Under the contract 410,000 new work places, 250,000 work experience placements and more funding to support apprenticeships will be made available over the next three years for 18 to 24-year-olds. In return young people not sticking with a job or placement will have their benefits cut.
But both the National Council for Voluntary Organisations (NCVO) and its Scottish counterpart, SCVO, have warned that the voluntary sector is being ignored in the process.
Oliver Reichardt, head of public services and partnerships at NCVO, told civilsociety.co.uk that the organisation is "delighted that in these tough times the government has agreed that there needs to be money made available to tackle youth unemployment". However, Sir Stuart Etherington, chief executive of the umbrella body, said: "The government must ensure it doesn’t miss a trick by not involving the voluntary sector more in designing and delivering these initiatives."
From next April the Department for Work and Pensions will provide 160,000 wage subsidies, worth £2,275 each, through the Work Programme to encourage businesses to take people on.
It will be delivered by existing Work Programme providers, but Reichardt said that concerns that NCVO voiced last month about the agreements between the prime contractors in the Programme (in all but one instance, a private company) and charity subcontractors were "still valid" and needed to be addressed.
Further details of spending changes will be announced by the Chancellor in his Autumn Statement on Tuesday, but SCVO chief executive Martin Sime said specific clarification for the voluntary sector was needed:
"We are disppointed that the special contribution which voluntary organisations and charities can make to building the confidence and skills of young people has been ignored. We need clarification on what role the third sector will have in this scheme and how it will be funded," he said.
Earlier this week the chief executives of NCVO and Acevo wrote a joint letter to the Chancellor, George Osborne asking him to commit to a job-creation fund for young people and outlining the potential for more involvement from the voluntary sector.
Sector's role as an employer
NCVO has also asked DWP for clarification about whether voluntary sector organisations will have access to the same financial incentives as private sector employers, to take on new employees or apprentices.
Launching the Youth Contract, which will help unemployed young people through work placements and incentive payments for employers, Deputy Prime Minister, Nick Clegg said: “This is a £1bn package and what’s different about it is it gets people into proper lasting jobs in the private sector.”
The DWP told NCVO that: "We will be talking to providers and employers in the coming weeks and months about the most effective way of delivering it."
