Vince Cable to announce ‘earn or learn’ scheme for school leavers
I have worked really hard in the past to try and find resources to support young people who want to live and work in agricultural roles in rural areas. It has been a largely fruitless and difficult process – largely because Further Education thinks along “urban tramlines”. Living and working in rural England is desperately difficult. Whilst I have some sympathy with the need to remove the opportunity for young people to “opt out” of the labour market by drawing benefits, I feel the policy profiled below being “boiled up” by Vince – needs some careful thinking lest it chases more challenged young people out of rural England.
This article tells us: “Coalition plans to make it more difficult for 18- to 21-year-olds to go straight on to benefits after school, and instead require them to work or study, are to be announced by the business secretary, Vince Cable. He will hint at the new “earn or learn” plans, being discussed as a possible centrepiece of a new coalition agreement, in a speech to the Association of Colleges. Government figures show 18.5% of boys aged 18 and 15.3% of girls are Neets – not in education, employment or training. The total is 115,000. The degree to which a benefit sanction would be included, and on what terms, is still up for discussion within the coalition, with Conservatives favouring a sanction.
Cable will say in his speech: “The issue is this: the government has a clear vision for 16- to 18-year-olds, where we are raising the participation age and increasing support for English and maths. But for young people over 18, the offer is much less clear. There’s generous educational support for some, while, for others, financial support through the benefits system can actually prevent them from learning.”