Another Way Out of this Mess

One of the reasons I haven’t been blogging as often as I should is that I’ve been writing a report for the Arts Council about self-employment in the creative industries. I’ve been convinced for some time that the government should be re-creating some version of the 1980s Enterprise Allowance Scheme to encourage entreprenership.

The original scheme paid people £40 a week to set up their own businesses. This was slightly more than the dole at the time and this acted as an incentive for people to come off benefits. This was seen at the time as a way of fixing the unemployment figures, but it also launched a number of successful careers, including that of Alan McGee, the founder of Creation Records .

In April the government introduced “self-employment credit” for people who have been on Jobseekers Allowance for six months. This gives them £50 a week (less than the dole for most people) for 16 weeks and plugs people into advice about how to run their business.