Anyone who is over 25 and unemployed will know that there is no proper help provided to get people their age into proper work and training. Whilst the under 25s have the Modern Apprenticeship (which gives them the chance to gain valuable on-the-job experience as well as a recognised work qualification) and the New Deal after six months of unemployment, the over 25s have to wait eighteen months before they are eligible for New Deal, and this version of the scheme seems to place more emphasis on being told how to write letters, how to phone employers and how to compile a CV than it does on getting valuable work experience and a qualification (and I know this for a fact because I have been on just about every scheme ever dreamed up by the government, apart from the ones aimed at the under 25s!)
Those who are unfortunate enough to fall into the over 25 age group will no doubt be delighted at the latest idea from the government - everyone under 25 will have guaranteed work or training after only six months unemployment.
This form of legalised discrimination is a kick in the teeth to everyone over 25 who finds themselves out of work, often through no fault of their own. Someone who has worked in a specialised job and then been made redundant might find it hard to secure work in a related industry, and there would be no help for them as far as retraining goes because they would be too old for the Modern Apprenticeship or any of the other myriad schemes just for under 25s.
