One in six young people are on course to be not in education, employment or training by 2031, as the youth unemployment crisis grows. It would bring the total number of so-called NEETs up to 1.26 million, new analysis shows.
Liberal Democrat proposals
Liberal Democrats called for an increase in work experience opportunities, with every youngster offered a guaranteed 100 hours in a workplace to prepare them for adult life. The party is also calling for a careers coach for every young person and an evolution of A-Levels into a baccalaureate-style system making it easier for 16-year-olds to choose vocational or technical qualifications instead of traditional academic subjects.
It comes as former Labour Cabinet Minister Alan Milburn prepared to publish the findings of his inquiry into NEETs. There are currently 981,000 people aged 16 to 24 who are doing nothing.
Cost of wasted potential
A Liberal Democrat study warned the wasted potential already costs the country £125 billion a year. But it forecast an additional 280,000 young people would be affected over the next five years, adding around £36 billion annually to the bill.
Education Spokesperson Munira Wilson MP has said the warning signs are there “long before a young person leaves school”, but too often nobody steps in until years afterwards where they have been “left in limbo, not earning or learning”.
Welfare reform proposals
Some young people could see a reduction in benefits, under a radical overhaul of the welfare system proposed by Mr Milburn. His year-long review, to be published on Tuesday, is set to recommend moving under-25s off the main sickness and disability benefits. He said that his plans would not be “pain-free” and would affect both existing and new claimants.
Downing Street yesterday declined to rule out welfare reforms that would impact people receiving universal credit and the personal independence payment. No10 said the UK cannot afford to “continue paying the cost of failure” when young people fall out of work, education or training.
Just under half (45.3%) of NEETs have been classed as disabled in the year to March – a proportion which has more than doubled in just over a decade. Disability charity Sense said it is “deeply concerned that, if these proposals are taken forward without proper funding for specialist employment support alongside welfare changes, some young disabled people could lose out”.
