A landmark report led by former Labour health secretary Alan Milburn is set to conclude that a 'catastrophic system failure' is leaving young people 'abandoned' to a life on welfare, with figures showing that seven in ten recipients of health and disability benefits still claim a decade later. The interim review, due to be published this week, examines youth unemployment in the UK.
Current Statistics
According to the most recent data from the Office for National Statistics, 12.8 per cent of all people aged 16 to 24 in the UK were not in education, employment or training (NEET) between October and December 2025, representing a total of 957,000 young people.
Key Findings
The Times reports that the review will highlight a stark imbalance in spending: just £1 is spent on employment support for every £25 spent on benefits. This system offers little incentive to help young people back into work, trapping them on benefits despite research indicating that around 50 per cent believe they could work with the right support.
Young people aged 16 to 24 who receive Personal Independence Payment (PIP), the main disability benefit, become less likely to be in work as they age. By the age of 24, only one in four PIP recipients were employed.
Systemic Disincentives
While the report acknowledges that some disabled young people will never be able to work and must have ongoing benefits, it also points out that those who wish to return to work face 'cliff edges' that could see them lose up to £2,000 a month in support. The report states: 'There is almost no intermediate step — no gradual build-up, no trial period that genuinely removes the fear of losing everything if a job does not work out.'
It adds: 'The welfare system presents young people with a perverse choice. For a young person with a health condition, the pathway to inactivity can offer higher income, less hassle and lower risk than trying to find work.'
Catastrophic Failure
The report concludes: 'The problem isn’t that young people aren’t being chased enough — it’s that the system abandons them entirely, and that abandonment exacts a cost in lost income and life chances. This is a catastrophic system failure. More young people are getting trapped on benefits when the overwhelming majority of them want to work. Today’s welfare system is scarring their life chances. We have the worst of all worlds — worse outcomes but higher costs. It has to be reformed.'
Speaking to the BBC, Milburn said the state has failed young people in a 'shameful' way by 'transporting them into the world of benefits' rather than helping them find work. He emphasised that this is a failure of the welfare system, as well as the school system, the skills system, and the health system.
Potential Solutions
Ministers hope that expanding sector-based work academy programmes (SWAPs) could help address the problem. Analysis by the Department for Work and Pensions suggests that young people who complete a SWAP placement are 13 per cent more likely to be in work two years later, with four in ten in sustained employment within six months.
