The Government needs to build on its Kickstart and Job Entry Targeted Support Initiatives to provide fresh help to enable job creation, according the Federation of Small Businesses.

The latest unemployment figures released this week showed that claimants have risen 120 per cent since March to more than 2.7 million.

And while welcoming the help provided by programmes such as the Job Support Scheme, FSB national chairman Mike Cherry said further measures were needed as increased lockdown restrictions are introduced.

Young unemployment rising fastest in Gloucestershire 

He said: "These figures are a stark reminder of the human impact of this terrible pandemic.

"As our economy is changed for the long term, policymakers should start looking at additional interventions to aid job creation.

"We need to see the Government bringing down the upfront costs of employment across the board in order to stimulate hiring activity - starting with Employer National Insurance Contributions, which serve as a stifling jobs tax."

He said the role of start-ups and the self-employed in the recovery from the last recession needed to be recognised with support.

"If we want them to play that role again, we have to throw them as many lifelines as possible," he said. "Too many have been excluded from support measures - including company directors and the newly self-employed - that needs to change.

"Equally, we need to look at how we encourage more of those currently out of work to strike out on their own."

He continued: "A Kickstart Start-Up initiative, modelled on the Kickstart scheme, for those looking to start their own firm could mark one way forward, building on the success of the New Enterprise Allowance and Start-Up Loan programmes."