Member Article

Apply ‘Get Britain Working’ to SMEs says entrepreneur

The Government’s controversial ‘Get Britain Working’ scheme could be successful if it was more frequently applied to small businesses, according to a UK entrepreneur.

The scheme, which is aimed at 18-24 year olds who have been unemployed for more than 3 months, provides 4-week unpaid work placements, whilst allowing them to continue claiming Jobseekers Allowance.

Employers were given the option of providing help with travel expenses and childcare costs, leading to claims that the scheme was creating a source of ‘slave labour’, and reducing the number of jobs available to young people.

However, Gary David Smith, co-founder of Prism IT solutions believes that by encouraging more small businesses to get involved with the scheme, the Government could be offering more value to young job seekers.

He said: “SME’s have always been targeted by individuals seeking work experience because the student stands a far greater chance of actually getting to speak to the decision maker.

“Work experience in an SME is more likely to involve shadowing someone who completes more than one function as so the ‘free labour’ criticism just doesn’t stack up in the SME community.”

Increasing numbers of big businesses have withdrawn from the programme after it came under intense criticism earlier in the year. Human rights lawyers have also threatened to sue businesses taking part in the scheme.

Mr Smith believes that properly managed work experience have a beneficial role to play in the SME marketplace, and he urges business to recognise the need to get more young people into the workplace.

“While we have not taken part in the scheme but the individuals who have come to Prism have been in no position to successfully hold down employment when they arrived and require constant hand holding,” he said. “But out of half-a-dozen placements three have been recruited full-time.”

“Some SME’s can feel that employment legislation is stacked against them. Employer confidence will play a big part in creating new jobs and work placements allow an employer to get a real ‘feel’ for a potential employee – far more so than a simple interview.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Ruth Mitchell .