JOBSEEKERS in Bradford could receive help through a new employment programme, which aims to target those left without work because of the coronavirus crisis.

Job Entry Targeted Support (JETS), backed by a £238 million Government investment, is aimed at helping those out of work for three months.

A range of help will be offered, including specialist advice on how people can move into growing sectors, as well as CV and interview coaching, said the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).

Almost 20,000 Bradfordians on furlough to face 'jobs cliff edge'

The scheme goes live today in parts of the country, including West Yorkshire.

Secretary of State for Work and Pensions Therese Coffey said: “JETS will give recently unemployed people the helping hand they need to get back into work, boosting the prospects of more than a quarter of a million people across Britain.

“We have provided unprecedented support for jobs during the pandemic including through furlough and subsidising the incomes of the self-employed, doing all we can to protect people’s livelihoods, but sadly not every job can be saved.

“This scheme will help those left out of work as a result of Covid-19, and is one strand of our wider Plan for Jobs which will also support young people on to the jobs ladder through Kickstart, offer the training needed to pivot into new roles through our Sector Based Work Academy Programme and prepare people for getting back into work.”

Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak said: “Our unprecedented support has protected millions of livelihoods and businesses since the start of the pandemic, but I’ve always been clear that we can’t save every job.

“I’ve spoken about the damaging effects of being out of work, but through JETS we will provide fresh opportunities to those that have sadly lost their jobs, to ensure that nobody is left without hope.”

The DWP is recruiting an additional 13,500 work coaches to help deliver the programme.

Labour shadow work and pensions secretary Jonathan Reynolds said: “By the Government’s own admission at least four million people could lose their jobs during the crisis.

“All it can muster in response are piecemeal schemes and meaningless slogans.

“This new scheme offers very little new support and relies on already overstretched work coaches on the ground, while many of the new work coaches promised have yet to materialise.

“It’s too little too late again from a Government that simply can’t get a grip on this jobs crisis.”