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UK govt, Tata Steel announce 9 mn pound support package
Tata Steel will offer 3 million pounds ($4.62 million), to be matched by government, for job creation in Britain’s Scunthorpe where its steel plant is to restructure, the two said in a joint statement.
The David Cameron government and Tata Steel have put together a support package worth 9 million pounds to help those whose jobs are to be scrapped as part of the company’s restructuring package announced earlier this week.
The package is targeted at workers at the Scunthorpe steelworks. Tata Steel’s regeneration arm, UK Steel Enterprise, has pledged £3 million to support job creation on top of the £10 million it has earmarked to help regenerate UK steel communities over the next five years.
The new £3 million funding is being matched by the UK government. It will provide support for more start-up businesses and companies that are looking to expand and create jobs, an official statement said on Friday.
In addition, the government is separately providing up to £3 million specifically for training of affected employees through local further education colleges.
Business secretary Sajid Javid said: “This is a very difficult time for the workforce, so it is important that the government and the company have come together to support people and the local economy”.
Karl Koehler, chief executive of Tata Steel’s European operations, said: “I recognise this is a challenging time for the employees affected by the restructuring we announced. The UK steel industry is facing extremely challenging circumstances and we welcome the government’s pledge to match our funding package for those affected”.
Over the last four decades Tata Steel’s UK Steel Enterprise has helped to regenerate local economies with £88 million of support and created more than 75,000 new jobs across the UK.
