ERSA welcomes NEA statistics

ERSA welcomes the statistics published today which show that more than 53,000 new business start-ups have resulted from the support available under the New Enterprise Allowance (NEA) scheme.

NEA was launched in 2011 and helps unemployed people start their own business by providing advice, mentoring and where needed, a start-up loan.

The scheme has helped an average of 460 unemployed people start a new business every week over the past year. Of the 53,000 businesses established:

– 12,360 were started by people aged 50 and over,
– 3,920 were started by young people
– 10,040  were set up by disabled people and
– 3,510 by those from BME backgrounds.

ERSA Chief Executive, Kirsty McHugh, said:

“It is fantastic news that over 50,000 people, who were once unemployed, are now running their own business as a result of the New Enterprise Allowance scheme. Not only is this a win for reducing unemployment levels, but as new start-ups are being created at a local level it’s also a win for rebuilding the UK economy.

By creating more local businesses, we are providing more employment opportunities for local  people as that business grows – proving that investing in self-employment is pivotal to tacking long term unemployment.”