At least 300 new jobs will be created across the heritage, sport, voluntary, arts and creative sectors in Northern Ireland under government funding announced to tackle the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic.
That’s according to communities minister Deirdre Hargey who announced the doubling of the Covid Recovery Employment & Skills Initiative to £20 million on the last full business day before the purdah period in the run up to May’s Northern Ireland Assembly elections.
The scheme will provide grant funding for the next three years to support individuals and not-for-profit organisations with costs for new roles to help address the impact of the pandemic. It will fund the salaries and associated costs of new entry level employment opportunities and host organisations’ support costs in not-for-profit organisations for those of working age.
The scheme also aims to provide funding for training and upskilling of existing employees in key roles within the affected sectors, in an effort to incentivise staff to remain in and develop their career in these sectors and assist the sectors to fully recover from the impacts of the pandemic. It is currently anticipated that new entrants will be in post by early July 2022.
The increased funding comes after significant interest from across the sector following the announcement of the first tranche of funding in January and will allow wider disbursement to those who applied before the deadline on 31 st January.
“The level of demand has affirmed the positive way organisations have responded to this initiative,” the minster said. “We are hearing how game-changing this could be for organisations, the sectors, and of course for the individuals themselves.
“I am pleased that my Department is able to provide additional support to these sectors where there is the potential to create a long lasting legacy.”
She said letters of offer will be issued to successful applicants in the coming days.
Grant funding for the Initiative is being disbursed through four trusted delivery bodies, namely Future Screens NI (Arts sector), The Rank Foundation (Sports and Voluntary & Community sectors), the Heritage Fund (Heritage sector) and BBC NI in partnership with NI Screen (Creative Industries sector).
