NEET funding to 'disappear into bureaucratic black hole'

The government's new £126m training scheme for young people will only help training providers and not businesses or the unemployed, an entrepreneur has claimed.

Deputy prime minister Nick Clegg today announced funding to pay charities and private sector organisations to provide 55,000 16 and 17 year olds not in education, employment, or training, know as NEETs, with skills training and related services.

But Pimlico Plumbers founder Charlie Mullins said the money should be given direct to employers so young people can earn while they learn.

He commented: "While the deputy prime minister’s intentions are good, this is the wrong way to go about training kids.

"It looks like a collective call from training providers for additional funding has been answered! The money will disappear into a bureaucratic black hole rather than directly benefit young people and employers.

"It's all very well for charities and other organisations to be able to tap into this funding, but employers have to be the ultimate beneficiaries. My experience of training providers has been nothing short of disastrous so it's time to cut out the middle man and go straight to employers.“

Businesses are able to bid for the funding but Mullins added: "What employer in their right mind will spend time filling in tender documents for a social experiment?"

The new scheme is part of the government's Youth Contract initiative aimed at dealing with the more than one million young people who are currently out of work.