Rishi Sunak dishes up £238m back-to-work scheme: Chancellor to launch jobs drive – as he blasts 'frustrating' pub curfew and vows to fight full new lockdown
Rishi Sunak will today launch a new jobs scheme to help Britons left out of work as a result of the pandemic.
The £238million Job Entry Targeted Support programme will assist hundreds of thousands of people without work for more than three months to get back into employment.
The Chancellor will make his set-piece speech to the Tory Party's virtual conference today and practised the address in London yesterday.
Rishi Sunak will launch a £238m back-to-work jobs scheme today. Pictured: Sunak yesterday rehearsing his speech on the eve of delivering it to the Tory Party virtual conference
Last night he said: 'Our unprecedented support has protected millions of livelihoods and businesses since the start of the pandemic, but I've always been clear that we can't save every job.
'I've spoken about the damaging effects of being out of work, but through JETS we will provide fresh opportunities to those that have sadly lost their jobs to ensure that nobody is left without hope.'
A wide range of help will be offered, including specialist advice on how people can move into growing sectors as well as CV and interview assistance.
Work and Pensions Secretary Therese Coffey said: 'JETS will give recently unemployed people the helping hand they need to get back into work, boosting the prospects of more than a quarter of a million people across Britain.
The new Job Entry Targeted Support programme will assist hundreds of thousands of Britons who lost work as a result of the pandemic
'We have provided unprecedented support for jobs during the pandemic, including through furlough and subsidising the incomes of the self-employed – doing all we can to protect people's livelihoods – but sadly not every job can be saved.
'This scheme will help those left out of work as a result of Covid-19.'
She said it was one strand of the Government's wider Plan for Jobs 'which will also support young people on to the jobs ladder through Kickstart' and offer the training needed to switch to new roles.
The Department for Work and Pensions is recruiting 13,500 work coaches to help deliver the programme as well as opening further job centres.
Speaking to The Sun Mr Sunak told how he was 'frustrated' at having to impose the 10pm curfew, a decision which he said had been taken on advice from scientists.
Pictured: Rishi Sunak with the Health Secretary Matt Hancock and the Conservative party Chairman Amanda Milling before going into the studio to rehearse his speech
He told the publication: 'Our job is to debate policy and come to the right collective answer but the advice of our scientists was that this would make a difference and there we go.'
He then added: 'Is it frustrating, right? Everyone is very frustrated and exhausted and tired about all of this.'
Speaking about the possibility of a second lockdown Mr Sunak told the publication he will 'look at all this in the round' to minimise harm to society and the economy.
During his speech yesterday Mr Sunak also welcomed a decision by green firm Octopus Energy to take on 1,000 staff. The company's plans include a new technology, data science and artificial intelligence centre based in Manchester.
The Chancellor said: 'More green jobs is not only good news for British job-seekers – it's a vote of confidence in the UK economy as it recovers, and pivotal to our collective efforts to build a greener, cleaner planet.'