Essex graduate sends Rishi Sunak a bill for £42,000 after Chancellor said people should "adapt to get jobs"
A University of Hertfordshire graduate from Essex has sent Rishi Sunak a bill for £42,000 after the Chancellor said people should "adapt to get jobs".
Luke Osborne graduated with a degree in graphic design in 2015, and went into full time employment for the next four years, but was made redundant and is now struggling to find work during the pandemic.
Last week the Chancellor gave an interview to ITV News in which he said: "Can things happen in exactly the way they did? No. But everyone is having to find ways to adapt and adjust to the new reality"
After seeing this Luke decided to send Rishi Sunak the invoice for £41,717.32.
In the letter, which Luke sent to the Chancellor's parliamentary and constituency offices, he says: "I for one love a challenge, and to learn a new skill, however I have sadly already spent my student loan allowance training to become a graphic designer as part of the creative arts industry... If you could be so kind and pay off my student debt, I will gladly go back to school to train for a new profession."
In September Rishi Sunak launched a new job support scheme which included fresh measures to replace the furlough scheme and help the UK economy to continue to recover during the second wave of coronavirus infections.
Announcing the package of measures the Chancellor said this new scheme is aimed at protecting “viable” roles, rather than all posts which have been kept going as a result of state support under the furlough programme.
Under the terms of the new scheme, the Government will top up the wages of people working at least a third of their normal hours.
They will be paid for that work as normal, with the state and employers then increasing those wages to cover two-thirds of the pay they have lost by working reduced hours.
However, the scheme has come in for some criticism from the creative industries as they're currently unable to open, and in many cases don't qualify for any help.
The government also announced a £1.5 billion cultural recovery programme, which awarded cash to struggling businesses, and the self employment support scheme.
"It made me feel like my degree was now useless and if I was to retrain I would either have to raise a lot of money, or get a refund, which is what I've tried to do."
Luke added that he hasn't yet had a reply from the Chancellor, and he doesn't expect him to pay off the debt, but says he accepts direct debit, cheque or paypal.