Businessman who rescued failing Derbyshire school appeals to Rachel Reeves over generation at risk of write off
A letter addressed to Rachel Reeves is urging the Chancellor of Exchequer to take action to support young people.
Christopher Nieper, Managing Director at David Nieper, a family-owned women’s fashion brand based in Alfreton, is among over 125 business leaders who have come together to launch an appeal to the Chancellor of Exchequer Rachel Reeves.
In the letter, which was sent on August 3, the leaders warned the Chancellor that without urgent action Britain risks ‘confining young people to the scrapheap’.
The appeal has highlighted that currently nearly one million young people, between the age of 16 and 25, are not in employment, education or training (NEET).
Christopher Nieper, who converted failing Alfreton Grange Art College into David Nieper Academy in 2016, said: “The cost of the NEETs crisis to the economy is unsustainable – not just in welfare payments, but in lost productivity, unfulfilled potential, and the long-term damage caused by early unemployment. Business wants to help tackle this.”
An Ofsted report in 2019 said David Nieper Academy required improvement. The latest inspection in 2022 rated the school as ‘good’.
The letter emphasises that businesses want to play their role in the national mission of getting young people into work – but highlights the need for additional support for businesses to create more opportunities for young people.
It urges the Government to introduce a form of Skills Tax Relief that would enable businesses to invest in training the youth.
The letter reads: “Current policy frameworks limit businesses' ability to create opportunities to get our young people working. Employer investment in training has declined over the past decade, and while recent reforms are welcome, they fall short of what is needed.
"A direct and accessible Skills Tax Relief would act as a fiscal incentive enabling businesses to invest in training young people. Whilst there are a number of options for implementing a Skills Tax Relief, this would help employers cover the costs of their spending on accredited training like apprenticeships, vocational courses, and boot camps, helping make training young people more affordable.”
The letter comes after last month the Chancellor told the House of Lords that supporting NEETs is where the ‘biggest crisis exists’ and highlighted that anyone who is out of work early in their working life, is ‘going to earn less and be in work less’.