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The Scottish Government is committed to providing support to people of all ages with access to employment support and opportunities to retrain and reskill. COVID-19 has had a fundamental impact on the Scottish economy and labour market and our response aims to support individuals into good, sustainable jobs as the economy begins to grow again.

We are building on the £33 million already invested by the Scottish Government to support existing employability support services including Community Jobs Scotland, Employability Fund and Fair Start Scotland, this year by investing a further £100 million to tackle unemployment and address retraining needs. To prevent youth unemployment and the scarring effect that it would have on a generation becoming the legacy of this pandemic, £60 million of this investment will be used to support the Young Person’s Guarantee, ensuring every 16-24 year old has the opportunity of work, education or training, giving them the chance to succeed despite the economic impacts of COVID-19. We have also put in place £10 million for a range of measures to recruit and retain apprentices, helping modern and graduate apprentices who are facing redundancy as a result of COVID-19 get back into work.

The £25 million National Transition Training Fund will support those aged 25 or over whose jobs are at risk as a result of the pandemic or have been made redundant, to access retraining. The first strand of the Fund, managed by Skills Development Scotland, was launched on 8 October. Individual Training Accounts (ITA), offer up to £200 to people of all ages who are unemployed or earn less than £22,000 who wish to upskill. ITAs reopened on 1 July this year, and remain open to applications.

We will continue to provide support for individuals affected by redundancy through our Partnership Action for Continuing Employment, PACE initiative. Through providing skills development and employability support, PACE aims to minimise the time individuals affected by redundancy are out of work. As announced in Programme for Government, we are investing an additional £5 million to scale up and enhance our support for those made redundant.

For those who want help to find and remain in work, Fair Start Scotland (FSS) is an all age, national employment support service, which offers tailored support for people who may be further removed from the labour market. In July, we extended Fair Start Scotland services to March 2023 providing stability and continuity for FSS participants and allowing us to manage the anticipated COVID-19 related increase in demand for support from the most disadvantaged in our communities. We have also provided additional funding of £2.35 million for our Parental Employability Support Fund which will provide intensive employability support for those most at risk of poverty, including disabled, young and minority ethnic parents to help them access or progress in work.

No One Left Behind, jointly managed through our partnership with Local Government, provides employability support to people of all ages, who are further removed from the labour market, including those with disabilities, long term health issues and single parents. This provision supports individuals to increase confidence, skills and experience, enabling them to progress towards or enter employment. We remain committed to the transformation of employability services, through the phased implementation of No One Left Behind to progress towards more effective and joined-up support across Scotland.