Youth Allowance and IAP- Intensive Activity Programme

If you're 18 to 21 and want to claim Jobseekers' Allowance, you'll have to do a series of courses to get benefits. The government is calling it a "boot camp".
 It is unlikely though that this 71-hour programme at your local job centre will involve crawling through tyres or polishing boots.
Instead young people who want to claim JSA will have to attend classes to be given tips for interview techniques and help searching for vacancies.

These courses will be compulsory and if you want to claim £57.90 a week - the maximum 18-24 year-olds searching for work are entitled to - you'll need to complete these courses in the first three weeks of unemployment.
It's being called the Intensive Activity Programme (IAP) and was tried out in job centres in North East Yorkshire, Humber and West Yorkshire in March.
Politician Matt Hancock, who heads a government team called "Earn or Learn" which is rolling out these measures to end youth unemployment, told Newsbeat it will be "tough but fair".
This new programme, which will be classroom-based, will condense all the training into one block at the beginning of unemployment instead of having a more "piecemeal" approach, he says.
Although acknowledging that 71 hours was a long time, he added: "If you are young and unemployed what else should you be doing with your time? "You should be spending your time trying to get a job. The only alternative to that is living on the state."

What we know 71 hour programme over three weeks Called the Intensive Activity Programme (IAP), it's part of measures being rolled out by an Earn or Learn taskforce If you don't take part you'll lose your benefits: up to £57.90 a week Will be mainly classroom based Will help you with interview techniques and writing CVs as well as helping you search for jobs Comes into force everywhere in April 2017, but is already being trialled in parts of Yorkshire and Humber Mr Hancock told the BBC: "We are penalising nobody because nobody who does the right thing and plays by the rules will lose their benefits. "This is about giving young people more support. "It's about having a dedicated work coach that can give one-on-one support to young people so that they can get a job or apprenticeship. "After six months they are required to get a job or an apprenticeship or go into a work programme."

The plans are being criticised by the University and College Union as well as the Green Party and Labour. UCU general secretary, Sally Hunt, describes the plans as another "attack on young people" and says they "fundamentally fail to deal with the reasons that so many of them are unable to find work or are not in education and training. " She also says they are just a "short-term gimmick".

Meanwhile Stephen Timms MP, Labour's Acting Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary says the government needed to make sure that there were jobs or apprenticeships at the end of the "bootcamp".
Young people aged 16-24 are nearly three times more likely to be unemployed than the rest of the population. Amelia Womack, the Deputy leader of the Green Party says: "The measures announced today are a damaging short-termist attempt to bring down unemployment figures by forcing young people into some kind of work or work programme as quickly as possible, rather than recognising the diversity of career paths and the importance of ensuring that young people choose one that is right for them. " The idea of having to complete training to get unemployment benefits is nothing new.

You can already lose your benefits for a period of time if you turn down a job or training course or take part in any employment schemes.

The Conservatives have also promised to scrap Jobseekers' Allowance for 18 to 21-year-olds and replace it with a "youth allowance", requiring young people to do some form of community work if they are out of a job for more than six months.
These changes to youth benefits will come into force in April 2017. BBC Newsnight article

The History of JSA claims -NEET

The History of JSA

History

You can see the history of the claim demand at the bottom of the page. However, this doesn't show the picture so clearly when you take into consideration the introduction of Universal Credit.

This started in the North West of the area and in all my Blog's
 I have shown in recent years the Roll out of Universal Credit.

The Government has made it clear that they intend to reduce access to Housing Benefit the 18-24 age group 
What does the future 

Conservative Manifesto

From the Youth perspective the change proposed for the 18-24 is that instead of claiming JSA they will claim Youth Allowance which they will only be able to claim for 6mnths. There will be a requirement to be on Apprenticeship, Community work or Training.

and is followed by

Apprenticeships another view

A recent BBC article stated

"The majority of apprenticeships are being used to train older people, and those who are already employed at their company, instead of taking on young people out of work."

In a statement on Sunday, Labour MP Liam Byrne said the government needed to do more to boost the apprenticeship "brand".

"The Tory-led coalition's five years allowed the devaluing of the once proud apprenticeship brand.

"They focused on re-badging in-work training for older workers as apprenticeships rather than helping create proper apprenticeship places for young people.

"Apprenticeships should be a qualification of at least level three and last two years," he said.

I read this and wondered if this was the reason why Young NEET youngsters were struggling to find new opportunities

Youth Unemployed who are not in Employment Education or Training need Appretniceships 

The traditional view of the Apprentice was a the 18-25 year old. Possibly a builder, plumber or Joiner. However now the world of the Apprentice has changed. 

This has led to the challenge for the Younger Job seeker in obtaining the training opportunities that they may have been offered in the past.

Add this to the issues connected with Welfare Support including Universal Credit and Housing Benefit that is expected to change in this term of Government there is a challenge for the future.

The Government promises to Youth

Cameron Government intro

 Its  all about  Welfare Change. The changes that  may well effect are those on Universal Credit, JSA Youth Contract, Esa Disability benefits and Industrial Accident   David Cameron the prime minister showed the cameras the manifesto. He refers to the manifesto and you can see some of the relevant comments here.

The Conservative Party Manifesto -Promises ahead on Jobs

key slogan-Full employment

"A job is the best way to provide security for families"

Introduction

Following the election of the Conservative Party to power within the Uk. the Key phrase used within their Manifesto has been "Full Employment" not underemployment or Unemployment.   In this Post I have Quoted the Partie's manifesto

We will boost apprenticeships and help you secure a good job We have already delivered 2.2 million new apprenticeships over the last five years. Over the next five years, we will deliver three million more and ensure they deliver the skills employers need.
 We aim to achieve full employment in the UK, with the highest employment rate in the G7, and we will help businesses create two million jobs over the Parliament. We have abolished the jobs tax – employers' National Insurance contributions (NICs) – for the under 21s and next year we will do the same for young apprentices under 25.
We will continue to help smaller businesses take on new workers through the Employment Allowance, which frees businesses from the first £2,000 of employers’ NICs so that a third of employers pay no jobs tax.

"Our plan will help to generate jobs and higher wages for everybody"

Youth & NEET's

Jobcentre Plus advisers will work with schools and colleges to supplement careers advice and provide routes into work experience and apprenticeships. But it is not fair – on taxpayers, or on young people themselves that 18-21 year-olds with no work experience should slip straight into a life on benefits without first contributing to their community. So we will introduce tougher






Day One Work Requirements for young people claiming out-of-work benefits. We will replace the Jobseeker’s Allowance for 18-21 year-olds with a Youth Allowance that will be time-limited to six months, after which young people will have to take an apprenticeship, a traineeship or do daily community work for their benefits


. It is also not fair that taxpayers should have to pay for 18-21 year-olds on Jobseeker’s Allowance to claim Housing Benefit in order to leave home. So we will ensure that they no longer have an automatic entitlement to Housing Benefit We will fight for equal opportunity for Disabled Last year alone, 140,000 disabled people found work. But the jobless rate for this group remains too high and, as part of our objective to achieve full employment, we will aim to halvethe disability employment gap: we will transform policy, practice and public attitudes, so that hundreds of thousands more disabled people who can and want to be in work find employment. We now have more women-led businesses than ever before, more women in work than ever before and more women on FTSE 100 boards than ever before. We want to see full, genuine gender equality. The gender pay gap is the lowest on record, but we want to reduce it further and will push business to do so: we will require companies with more than 250 employees to publish the difference between the average pay of their male and female employee

NEET -Parliament -research

NEET: Young People Not in Education, Employment or Training

Not included in report

Published 21 May 2015 in Parliament research

943,000 people aged 16-24 were NEET in the first quarter of 2015, 13.0% of people in this age group. Schemes introduced by the previous Government with elements aimed at reducing the number of young people who are NEET included: raising the participation age, the Youth Contract and the Work Programme.943,000 people aged 16-24 were NEET in the first quarter of 2015, 13.0% of people in this age group.

Not all unemployed 16-24 year olds are NEET and not all people who are NEET are unemployed. 59% of unemployed 16-24 year olds are NEET, the remaining 41% are in education or training. 46% of people who are NEET are unemployed, the rest are economically inactive: not seeking work and/or not available to start work.

In England, the regions with the highest proportion of 16-24 year olds who are NEET are the North East, Yorkshire & Humber, and West Midlands.

The proportion of 15-19 year olds and 20-24 year olds who are NEET in the UK is above the OECD average.

Those eligible for free school meals, those who have been excluded or suspended from school, those with their own child and those who have a disability are more likely to be NEET.

Schemes introduced by the previous Government with elements aimed at reducing the number of young people who are NEET included: raising the participation age, the Youth 

Contract and the Work Programme.

These are some of the regional factors