Union wants funding rules to be relaxed
09 January 2009
State-funded training should be made available to all those facing redundancy, according to the TUC.
Ahead of next week’s jobs summit of business leaders, organised by the prime minister, the TUC has called for funding rules to be relaxed to enable all those threatened with job losses to access it.
The call comes following a flurry of redundancies since the return from the Christmas break, with lay-offs announced at Marks and Spencer, Nissan and Barclays, among others, and the publication of a report by the TUC called Skills in the Recession.
Brendan Barber, general secretary, said: “Providing more training will give millions of people who have lost their jobs a better chance of returning to work as quickly as possible.”
The TUC has urged the government to relax the “16-hour rule” that prevents people studying for more than 16 hours a week from claiming unemployment and housing benefit, saying it discourages benefits claimants from taking further education courses at a time when up-skilling is even more important.
The government’s skills strategy should also be better linked with industry strategy, according to the report.
“As well as the short-term need for training, the government must also look at the kind of economy we want to emerge from the recession. We want to see a fairer, more balanced economy, with a greater emphasis on high-value jobs. To do this, the government must ensure that UK workers have the skills to take up new jobs in high-performing sectors, such as our creative industries and low-energy manufacturing,” said Barber.