Microsoft invests £45 million to get UK back in work

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Microsoft has launched a new campaign to get 500,000 Britons into work by 2012.

The “Britain Works” campaign will see the software giant invest £45 million into IT training for the unemployed. It hopes to create more than 700 IT apprenticeships by September 2010 with this number rising to over 3,000 as the scheme goes on.

Gordon Frazer, managing director of Microsoft UK, said in a statement: “Today represents the start of a nation-wide programme, which I hope will have a real impact at grassroots level across the UK.”

“Of course we can’t wave a magic wand and create jobs for all, and that is why “Britain Works” is specifically designed to give people the opportunity to get the skills and support they need to change their lives themselves.”

The scheme was initially piloted in the West Midlands but will now be rolled out across the country.

Microsoft is working with Jobcentre Plus, the CBI and the Work Foundation to fill the scheme and it has the full backing of all the major political parties.

Lord Mandelson, the Government’s business secretary, said in a statement: “Digital skills are crucial for the knowledge economy and this campaign will go a long way to helping people benefit from the new opportunities that technology brings.”

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