ERSA CEO responds to the Comprehensive Spending Review - ERSA

The Employment Support sector welcomes the announcement of Restart commissioning alongside investment in infrastructure, capital investment, job creation, green jobs, sector-based training, traineeships, and the expansion of the National Careers Service.

We hope the expansion of front-line advisors at Jobcentre Plus will ensure the right people are referred to the right provisions at the right time. The Employment Support sector itself will expand to meet the challenges of future delivery and this work has begun with partnerships and collaborations being developed to increase capacity and to build diverse supply chains that will reach into local communities through knowledge of employers, with local partnerships bringing in the expertise of third sector partners, specialists, local authorities and recognising that health and housing issues will factor into the success of economic recovery.

For the Employment Support sector Restart is a start, we look forward to the details of allocation of ESF reserves and the future Shared Prosperity Fund to provide effective employment support for all.

How does SR20 support jobs?

£3.7 billion of additional funding is allocated to support frontline services and to enable DWP to deliver on July’s Plan for Jobs to support people back into work.

This includes:

A new Restart programme to provide intensive and tailored support to over 1 million unemployed people and help them find work in England and Wales, with approximately £400million investment in 2021-22. The first step in a £2.9 billion three-year programme.
Investing £1.4billion to build on the Plan for Jobs commitment to increase capacity in Job Centre Plus and double the number of work coaches in Great Britain.
Additional investments in Plan for Jobs measures including the Job Entry:Targeted Support and Job Finding Support schemes and the Youth Offer in Great Britain, as well as Sector-based Work Academy Programme placements in England and Scotland.
This settlement also confirms a total package of £2 billion, with £1.6billion in 21/22 to continue creating up to 250,000 government-subsidised jobs through the Kickstart Scheme in Great Britain.

UKSPF in Levelling Up:

The UK Shared Prosperity Fund will help to level up and create opportunity across the UK for people and places.
It will operate UK-wide, using the new financial assistance powers in the UK Internal Market Bill.
Funding will ramp up so that total domestic UK-wide funding will at least match EU receipts, on average reaching around £1.5 billion a year. In addition, to help local areas prepare over 21/22 for introduction of the UKSPF, we will provide additional UK funding to support our communities to pilot programmes and new approaches.
A portion of the Fund will target places most in need across the UK, such as ex-industrial areas, deprived towns and rural and coastal communities. This will prioritise investment in people and skills tailored to local needs, investment in communities and place, and investment for local business.
A second portion of the Fund will be targeted differently to people most in need through bespoke employment and skills programmes.
The Spending Review sets out the main strategic elements of the UKSPF in the Heads of Terms. The government will set out further details in a UK-wide investment framework in the spring and confirm multiyear funding profiles at the next Spending Review

ERSA is the voice of Employment Support in the UK.

Spending Review 2020

The Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak presented his ‘Spending Review 2020’ to Parliament on Wednesday 25 November 2020.

https://www.gov.uk/government/topical-events/spending-review-2020