Government funding confirmed for redundant Tata steelworkers

Government funding of almost £2m has now been confirmed to help support the hundreds of people affected by the restructure and job losses by Tata Steel.

The Department for Business, Innovation and Skills (BIS) has also stated that £1.5m will be used to support specific training and accreditation for affected steelworkers through local further education colleges in conjunction with the national Skills Funding Agency.

An additional £350k has been confirmed to assist supply chain businesses hit by the Tata Steel job cuts, including 490 at the Scunthorpe plant, which is in the procces of sellingits Long Products Business.

Furthermore, the Government has announced it is considering a further request by partners across the Sheffield City Region for a further £2.5m in business support grants, and UK Steel Enterprise – the regeneration subsidiary of Tata Steel - has pledged £1.55m of extra funding for job creation.

Rotherham Borough Council leader Cllr Chris Read said: “In very difficult circumstances, this is welcome news from the Government, accepting the case we made for extra funding to support the training needs of people facing redundancy from Tata.

“In addition to this, I am writing this week to hundreds of local companies who are involved in the supply chain to Tata, opening a conversation with them about what more can be done to help prevent the loss of more jobs as the knock-on consequences are felt in the wider economy. We continue to seek further Government funding to support this work, and will be pressing for our original bid of an additional £2.5 million for business support.”

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