Small businesses boosted by government's new 'skilled internship' scheme

Date: 30th September 2009

Small businesses are to be given a helping hand to take on university graduates under a new 'skilled internship' scheme to be rolled out by the government.

Following on from recent calls for ministers to do more to help smaller firms make use of the potential of the country's unemployed graduates, Gordon Brown used the occasion of his Labour Party Conference speech to outline the new initiative.

To be run in partnership with the Federation of Small Businesses (FSB), the scheme will see graduates given £100 a week from the government, with employers then asked to make up the rest of their wages.

According to the FSB's chairman John Wright, this will not only help university leavers boost their employment prospects at a time when the job market is moving at a slow pace, but will also enable many employers to take on talented individuals, often for the first time.

"Small firms will benefit from the skills of this workforce, which they traditionally find harder to recruit," he said.

At the same time, the Forum for Private Business (FPB) has reported that around half of its members expect to enjoy an increase in trade over the coming year.