Angels Den Blog

With unemployment figures reported at an 11-year high and with 1.82 million out of work, what future is there for the UK’s long-term unemployed?

David Cameron thinks he has the answer – well, he would, wouldn’t he! As leader of the main opposition (sorry, all you LibDems out there), he has to throw the occasional spanner in the Labour Party’s political works, then sit back and watch the sparks fly. When better to announce a controversial solution than just before Labour’s pre-budget report is due out?

The Cameron solution to the problem of increasing unemployment and the deeper issue of the long-term unemployed is to encourage businesses to employ them by offering a tax break for doing so: a credit of £2,500 against the company’s national insurance contributions for every full-time employee (30 hours plus per week) hired from the pool of unemployed who have been in this financially challenged position for more than three months; and a £1,250 credit for every part-time employee they take on (16–30 hours a week).

While this sounds wonderful in theory, Mr Brown claimed that it is totally unworkable, and used the age-old political attack of “after all, where is all the money going to come from to pay for it?”. He even unsportingly said: “They change their policy every day, they have a new initiative to get them on the news, but it is not serious in measuring up to the problems we face.”

If Mr Cameron’s figures are to be believed, this initiative would create 350,000 new jobs and save companies £2.6bn in taxes.

So, calling all small business owners! If you could do with a tax break, keep an eye on this one from the boys in the blue party: you could well be able to reap new rewards for taking on staff. There are of course certain rules to this offer (aren’t there always?), such as the company must not have made anyone redundant for the three months prior to and after the recruitment, and the tax break is only available when recruiting a maximum of 20 per cent of your workforce, but it still seems a nice offer, even if it sounds a little like a political assessment of the worth of the long-term unemployed. So as we’ve just had Bonfire Night … penny for the guy? OK, how about a few pennies in a tax break for an unemployed person, then?

Angels Den are always looking for news and information that could save small businesses money, so they can put it to better use such as for expansion, promotion and product development. Of course, if the savings you may make through prudent practices are not enough to fund this then you could always pitch to our Angel Investors, whose fundamental purpose in life is to find brilliant and inspirational ideas and businesses to invest in, to launch them or boost them to the next level. To find out more, visit our website at www.angelsden.co.uk.

Source:
Tories Propose Business Tax Cuts
Unemployment reaches 11-year high

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