Britain faces a 25% rise in the number of young people not in work, education or training (NEET) to 1.25 million by the early 2030s without urgent government action, a report led by former Labour health secretary Alan Milburn has warned. The report, due to be published on Thursday, says the UK risks opening up a 'generational fault line' between young and old unless schools, the health service, the welfare system and the jobs market are overhauled.
Milburn will call on Sir Keir Starmer's government to launch a fresh push to reform health and disability benefits while drastically improving access to employment support. He will describe the welfare state as 'exacerbating inactivity' and argue that new work programmes alone would fail to tackle deeper-rooted problems. 'This is not a failure of young people. It is a failure of a system stuck in the past,' he will say.
Official figures due on Thursday are expected to show the number of NEET young people is close to breaking through one million, the highest level for more than a decade. Milburn will warn that without action, the proportion could rise from one in eight to one in six young people within five years. The warning comes amid rising mental ill-health, concerns over social media, and AI disrupting the jobs market.
However, business groups have criticised government policies, including the chancellor's £25bn increase in employers' national insurance contributions and the push to equalise minimum wage rates, for fuelling the crisis. Tina McKenzie of the Federation of Small Businesses said: 'Ministers cannot ignore the impact soaring employment costs are having on hiring.'
Milburn will also warn that the promise that each generation should do better than the last is being broken, leaving parents and grandparents fearful for the future. The report says young people are being failed by employers and the government amid a sharp decline in entry-level jobs in hospitality, leisure and retail.
