The Economic Affairs Committee today released a 74-page report entitled ‘Time for a New Deal’ in which it questioned the current approach of the Chancellor Rishi Sunak and the government.
The report has called for a new perspective, with a deal to help the country recover from the impacts of the pandemic.
Lord Forsyth, the chair of the committee commented on the matter in the report.
He said: “The government is sleepwalking into an unemployment crisis. This report is trying to save the prospects of a generation of young people.
Unemployment: Rishi Sunak urged to act as Britain sleepwalks into jobs crisis (Image: Getty)
The government signposts three calculators online, with these tools hosted by Turn2us, Policy in Practice, and entitledto.
Ministers have not yet laid out their position on whether or not the temporary uplift would be extended beyond the one-year mark.
Last month, on Thérèse Coffey, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, said: “The statutory annual review is separate from the temporary £20 per week uplift to Universal Credit and Working Tax Credit, which was announced by the Chancellor as a temporary measure in March 2020, and enacted for one year under different legislation to support those facing the most financial disruption as a result of the public health emergency.
Britain is sleepwalking into an unemployment crisis, and the private sector alone is unable to save us
14 December 2020 • 5:16pm
The Covid-19 pandemic has resulted in the largest economic shock in over 300 years. With those out of work forecast to reach 2.6 million, we need to tackle rising poverty and unemployment over the next 12 to 18 months.
The Chancellor appears to think that the economic crisis will be short-lived and that everything will be fine by the spring. This is wrong: the Government is sleep walking into an unemployment crisis. It needs a strategy for what comes next.
The Lords Economic Affairs Committee report,