Gordon Brown will host a summit on unemployment today where business and union leaders will join welfare experts to discuss the government’s jobless proposals.

Employers would get a £2,500 payment for every employee they agree to take on and train under the plans.

And additional funding for “intensive support” from Jobcentre advisers, together with encouragement for the increased availability of apprenticeships, are also included in the announcement.

The summit, to be held at the Science Museum in London, comes amid rising unemployment and a UK economy on the brink of recession. The prime minister is expected to argue a failure to act by the government risks extending the contraction.

Work and pensions secretary James Purnell told BBC News 24 the government was targeting those who had been unemployed for six months.

“It’s harder for people to find a job at the moment. That’s why we want to provide this extra help for people,” he said, adding he wanted to prevent people turning into the long-term unemployed and becoming “the scars on people’s communities”.

The government announced over £1 billion to help people who had just lost their jobs before Christmas and today’s funding comes in addition to that.

But shadow work and pensions secretary Chris Grayling said the government’s current announcements were “more spin than substance” and “are just designed to cover up the fact that Gordon Brown’s recession policies are not working”.

He added: “With unemployment rising faster than anytime for a generation just holding a job summit is hardly going to solve the problems we face.”