Alan Johnson MP

13 November 2009 

Today John Denham, Communities Secretary, announced that 61 local authorities will receive a share of £40m of Working Neighbourhood Fund (WNF) to tackle worklessness and low skills, and help people back to work

 

While the number of long-term jobless families has been reduced by 13 per cent over the last ten years, this funding demonstrates Labour’s commitment to tackling entrenched worklessness and steps up action to support the remaining 73,000 back into work.

 

It builds on Labour support to communities during the downturn – £3bn that’s improved Jobcentre Plus; the guaranteed job or training to all long-term unemployed young people; and Backing Young Britain – a call to businesses, charities and government bodies to create more opportunities for young people.

 

In past recessions we saw too many people left behind; Labour is determined to make sure that this will never happen again. WNF puts resources into the hands of local councils to enable them to take immediate action in the downturn

 

Since 2008 £1.5bn of WNF has been given to councils with higher levels of deprivation and unemployment. Today’s announcement gives them extra resources to find new ways of reaching out to long-term unemployed people

 

One of the most effective ways of reaching out is through social landlords who have relationships with their tenants. WNF enables councils and social landlords to help their tenants discover what job options are available and provide a vital link to help them into work.

 

The figures released this week reinforce the fact that the UK labour market is performing better than most major economies. They show UK unemployment at 7.8%, compared to an EU average of 9.2% and lower than 14 other EU countries including France (10.0%), Ireland (13.0%) and Spain (19.3%), as well as the US (10.2%) and Canada (8.6%).

 

WNF allocations