AN MP has called for action to ‘save summer jobs’ in North Yorkshire by removing barriers to young people entering work.
Kevin Hollinrake, MP for Thirsk and Malton, has backed Conservative Party plans to give young people more flexibility over shift patterns and breaks and simplify restrictions on evening working, whilst “protecting young people’s education”.
Mr Hollinrake, who is Chairman of the Conservative Party, said that scrapping “unnecessary red tape and permits required for businesses to employ young people”, lifting a two-hour Sunday working limit for under-16s, and allowing them to work until 9pm, would give young people more freedom and make it easier for employers to recruit.
“My first job was as a milk boy at the age of seven, so I know from personal experience how much a young person can learn from having a job and being given that first opportunity,” he said.
“Those early jobs teach you things you simply cannot learn in a classroom alone – how to turn up on time, work hard, take responsibility and deal with customers and colleagues. They can also give young people the confidence to take their next step.
“That matters particularly in a constituency like ours, where so many local businesses rely on young people during the summer months. From our pubs, restaurants and shops to the many businesses supporting our tourism industry, seasonal staff are vital.
“We need to make it easier, not harder, for those businesses to give young people their first step onto the career ladder.”
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Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) last month, Scarborough and Whitby MP Alison Hume said the Government was doing “a lot” to help young people get out of unemployment and find jobs.
“We have the Youth Guarantee, and if they don’t have work after 18 months, we’ll support them and pay for them,” Ms Hume told the LDRS, adding: “We do need to break down that feeling that going into the Jobcentre is somehow a bad thing and it’s all about getting your benefits cut.
“We want to see the Jobcentres and their job coaches working really hard to help people into work.”
On a visit to Scarborough in July, the then-Minister for Employment, Dame Diana Johnson, noted that “For young people under 21, if an employer like a pub landlord takes on some young people to serve in the pub, they’re not paying National Insurance for those young people.”
Kevin Hollinrake MP.
Mr Hollinrake, who represents Thirsk and Malton, called for “outdated regulations inherited from the European Union” to be scrapped, allowing young people in full-time education or training to work until midnight on Fridays and Saturdays during term-time and without restriction during holidays.
The required 48 consecutive hours off work in any seven-day period would also be reduced to 24 hours, under Conservative proposals.
Under current rules, during school holidays, 15 to 16-year-olds can work a maximum of 35 hours a week, which includes a maximum of eight hours on weekdays and Saturdays, and a maximum of two hours on Sunday
Mr Hollinrake said: “A summer job should be an opportunity – for a young person to earn some money, gain valuable experience and build confidence, and for a local business to invest in the next generation. We should be doing everything we can to protect that opportunity.”