White people shut out of taxpayer-funded jobseeker schemes in 'two-tier Britain'

White people are being shut out of taxpayer-funded jobseeker schemes across the nation.

The programmes - only available to ethnic minorities - have been labelled an example of "two-tier" Britain, and come just as the nation's youths stare down the barrel of an unemployment crisis.

In Sheffield, the Labour and Green-led city council offers "targeted employment support for ethnic minority groups" as part of a pathways to work programme.

A £340,000 project, operated by local charities, aims to help find jobs for "economically inactive" minorities.

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The scheme is part-funded by the "Economic Inactivity Trailblazer" run by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and the £2.6billion UK Shared Prosperity Fund provided by the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government (MHCLG).

Andy Burnham's Greater Manchester Combined Authority, meanwhile, hoovers up ring-fenced grants for projects to provide "culturally appropriate employability support", including CV workshops and mentoring for black and minority ethnic people in Oldham.

These funds are given to authorities to spend on "levelling up" projects.

William Yarwood, campaigns director of the Taxpayers' Alliance, told The Telegraph that public funds should not be spent on "two-tier initiatives".

He said: "Taxpayers should not be funding schemes that exclude people because of their race.

"Race-based eligibility smacks of identity politics and a two-tier system, which undermines public confidence in the system.

"Ministers should end these discriminatory programmes and ensure taxpayer-funded support is open to all jobseekers who need it."

Alka Sehgal Cuthbert, director of Don’t Divide Us, said the schemes were a "divisive, race-based, segregationist plan for social in-cohesion".

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Further questions are now looming over the schemes in the wake of the Milburn report, which highlighted the staggering level of youth unemployment across the country.

The DWP had previously operated schemes exclusively for non-white jobseekers, including "mentoring circles" and the "Moving on Up initiative" - an effort to tackle unemployment, with rates amid ethnic minorities at 8.8 per cent - compared to 4.3 per cent amid white people.

The Government previously said it provided "bespoke programmes" to help ethnic minority jobseekers move into employment.

The National Audit Office had previously been criticised for banning white people from applying to an internship open only to minority applicants.

A spokesman for the Greater Manchester Combined Authority said it had "many employment and skills programmes" which "support people from a wide range of backgrounds into work", and said no eligible person is excluded on ethnicity grounds.

A spokesman for the DWP said: "Every penny of taxpayer money we spend on employment support is focused on one thing - getting people back to work and growing the economy.

"Local authorities know their communities and sometimes decide to offer local programmes targeted at groups with above average levels of unemployment, alongside their wider support which must be available to all.

"We are transforming Jobcentre Plus and creating a new service across Britain, available to all – regardless of their ethnicity or barriers to work – alongside our £3.5bn investment in employment support for sick or disabled people and £2.5bn for the biggest youth employment reforms in a generation."

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