The head of the CBI has called on the government to simplify its Youth Contract – which supports young people into work - to help busy employers “see the wood for the trees” and boost take up.

Speaking at the CBI’s Action for Jobs summit, director-general John Cridland praised the Youth Contract but said it could be improved to make it more accessible.

“The Youth Contract strikes the right balance, recognising the work each employer is doing for the wider community and giving them back more than National Insurance for the first part of employment,” Cridland said.

“[However,] the next challenge is making it simple for firms to get involved. This is an area where the Youth Contract needs to be made more successful. Many employers phoning the helpline in the early days didn’t receive the advice they needed.”

He said that with 47 different initiatives for employers in England offering funding and support for businesses taking on and training young unemployed people, “busy firms need the whole process to be easier to navigate”.

“Business will step up, but government has to meet it halfway. If ever there was a case of not being able to see the wood for the trees, this is it. Confusion dilutes well-intentioned policies and the impact they should have and we cannot have our young people being denied life-changing opportunities.”

Cridland told delegates that a return to economic growth would not solve youth unemployment on its own, with the number of young people out of work now exceeding 1 million.

Deputy Prime Minister Nick Clegg, who also spoke at the summit, agreed that youth unemployment was an urgent matter and said it was a top priority for him.

He urged more employers to take up the Youth Contract and emphasised that the £2,275 wage subsidy available to organisations was worth half the minimum wage for a young worker.

Clegg also used the platform to launch a new government initiative to activate the wage subsidy earlier in hotspots of high and long-term youth unemployment.

In these areas, which include the Midlands, South Wales, and parts of Scotland, wage subsidies will be paid after six months rather than the usual nine, he said.

“We started with the Work Programme; we introduced the Youth Contract; now we’re homing in on youth unemployment hot spots; action that is targeted; urgent and always looking to do more. Government working hardest for the places that have been hardest hit,” he said.

Adam Marshall, director of policy at the British Chambers of Commerce, welcomed the hotspots initiatives but echoed Cridland’s stance.

“There must also be a focus on creating a simpler offer for employers. Businesses are confused by the large number of employment initiatives with similar names and differing criteria, which are regularly launched by different departments, agencies and local authorities,” Marshall said.