Future Jobs Fund

The previous Labour Government created the Future Jobs Fund (FJF) in October 2009 as part of the Young Person’s Guarantee where 18-24 year olds reaching the six-month point of their Jobseeker’s Allowance claim were guaranteed an offer of a job, training or work experience. Government funding for the FJF was to be around £1 billion.

The FJF was initially designed to fund the creation of up to 170,000 temporary jobs lasting six months and run until March 2011. This was later extended for another year until March 2012 with the estimated total number of FJF jobs rising to 200,000. The DWP paid employers up to £6,500 per job in wage and business costs.

The current Government announced shortly after taking office in May 2010 that it had cancelled the extension to March 2012 of the Young Person’s Guarantee (including the FJF). In addition, the FJF was closed to any further bids. Already agreed funding commitments were still met, and the scheme closed in March 2011 with 105,000 FJF job starts in total.

An early DWP study of the scheme concluded that it was successful in preparing participants for work and had some positive long-lasting effects. However, it also noted that some participants did not receive focus on how to get a job after they had completed the FJF.

The Government believes that the temporary nature of the fully-subsidised jobs in the FJF provided a poor return compared with other less-expensive employment schemes.