Bosses urge Chancellor to save a million kids from the scrapheap
Official figures show there is an army of NEETs – people aged 16-24 who are not in employment, education or training.
The letter, to be delivered to the Chancellor today, says that without urgent action, huge numbers are destined 'for the scrapheap.' It has been co-ordinated by Christopher Nieper, boss of the David Nieper fashion business, along with the Jobs Foundation charity.
Signatories include JCB chief Lord Bamford, City tycoon Lord Spencer, property mogul Jamie Ritblat, grocery entrepreneur Sean Ramsden and venture capitalist Jon Moulton.
Toyota UK and the Rigby Group, Europe's largest private IT services company, are also among the signatories urging a skills tax relief to incentivise firms to train young people, which they say would benefit the Exchequer and boost less prosperous areas.
Nieper, who has rescued a failing school in Derbyshire which claims that it helped all 18-year-old pupils secure a job or further education, said: 'The cost of the NEETs crisis to the economy is unsustainable – not just in welfare payments but in lost productivity, unfulfilled potential and long-term damage caused by early unemployment.'
He has proposed a tax break for employers and says modelling shows that if the number of NEETs is halved, the Exchequer would gain up to £23billion.
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