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Tories call for immediate retraining

The Conservatives have called for the Government to relax rules on Jobseeker’s Allowance in the light of new research conducted by the party.

Present rules mean that jobseekers have to wait six months before they are allowed to retrain, but the Conservatives would like to see the waiting time scrapped.

Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, Theresa May, said: “Labour need to relax the rules on Jobseeker’s Allowance to help people retrain immediately instead of having to wait up to six months as they do now.”

New research commissioned by the party has revealed the occupations in the North East with the most jobseekers chasing the fewest vacancies.

Nationally the average number of people applying for each vacancy advertised by Jobcentre Plus has risen from two for each vacancy last October up to seven in April.

Analysis of official statistics has revealed that workers in certain occupations are facing more competition for jobs.

In the North East people searching for work in lower skilled occupations face competition of up to 59 job seekers for each vacancy, compared to seven job seekers for each vacancy in a managerial or professional job.

Theresa May said: “These figures show the very real challenge of unemployment across the North East today.

“Instead of providing real help now to jobseekers Labour have closed Jobcentres and are cutting the New Deal across half the country.

“It is essential that jobseekers in the North East get as much information as possible on what jobs are available in their area and support if they need to retrain in a different industry or sector.”

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