The government has announced it will expand a subsidised job scheme for long-term unemployed young people, extending eligibility to help more 18 to 24-year-olds. The move comes as Alan Milburn prepares to publish his long-awaited review into the almost one million young people classed as 'Neets' - those not in employment, education or training.
Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden confirmed the programme, which was trialled in six areas with some of the highest levels of youth unemployment including Greater Manchester and South West Wales, will now be rolled out nationally. Eligibility for the 'Jobs Guarantee' will also be extended from April 2027, with the required claiming period for Universal Credit reduced from 18 months to 12 months.
Scheme expansion details
Under the scheme, the government funds up to 25 hours of paid work a week for six months. The stated mission is to help 90,000 young people by 2029.
Mr McFadden said: "The longer someone is out of work, the harder it is to get back in, and no young person should be left waiting on a scrapheap for an opportunity."
He added: "That is why we are expanding our guaranteed jobs scheme across Great Britain and bringing it forward, so that help arrives when it matters most. Employers are crying out for talent, and there is a generation of talent ready to be unleashed. We are backing them with the support they need to build a fulfilling future."
Milburn report calls for legal guarantee
Alan Milburn, the former Labour Cabinet minister, will present his recommendations to Andy Burnham's Cabinet on Tuesday. His review will call for a guarantee of a job or training to be enshrined in law, placing a legal duty on the government.
Mr Milburn told the BBC in an interview to be broadcast on Sunday that there should be a permanent "opportunity guarantee" for young people. He said: "It should be a guarantee for a young person. Because at the moment the only guarantee they've got is a very simple thing. To get a benefit. What sort of life is that?"
He noted that all previous support schemes had been temporary, adding: "Unsurprisingly the Neet rate in our country has barely been below 10% in 25 years. One of the reasons is we've never had the permanence and the entitlements to say to a young person if you put in effort we will guarantee you and opportunity, an apprenticeship, a pre-apprenticeship, a college place, a job, and we'll give you the support you need to get there. So mental health support, some job coaching."
Welfare shake-up proposals
Mr Milburn also warned his call for a legal duty on the government would be a "straight-forward deal" for young people. He said: "If there's more opportunities for young people there's got to be more obligations on their part to take up that opportunity. What we can't have is a generation living on benefits. It's a disaster for them and its a disaster for taxpayers."
Earlier this week, Mr Milburn floated a contentious shake-up of the welfare state, with some young people receiving less financial support under his proposals. Under his plans, under-25s would no longer be able to claim the health element of Universal Credit or Personal Independence Payments (Pip). They would instead move to a new system, paid at the same level as the standard rate of universal credit - but with fewer people entitled.
The proposal has prompted concern among some left-wing Labour MPs. Clive Lewis posted on X: "I'm deeply disappointed that Alan Milburn has chosen to discuss potentially life-changing welfare proposals in the media before his report has even been published or scrutinised by Parliament."
However, Dame Meg Hiller, one of the key rebels behind last year's push for Keir Starmer to abandon his cuts to sickness and disability benefits, appeared to defend Mr Milburn's approach, arguing the plans set out so far were "very different to what was happening a year and a half ago".
Work allowance proposal
The Mirror revealed earlier this week the report will also call for a new "work allowance" for young people to stop their benefits being reduced from the first pound they earn when they take up work. Under existing rules, only those with children or claimants assessed as having limited capability for work, including health conditions, get a work allowance. Everyone else loses 55p of benefit for every £1 they earn - starting from the first £1 of earned income. Under Mr Milburn's proposal, every young person currently in receipt of benefits would get a work allowance, set at a value of 16 hours a week at the minimum wage.
Earlier this week, Mr Burnham told The Mirror in Dublin the report into the 'Neets' crisis would be a "watershed" moment for the country. Asked whether he would accept the recommendations in full, the Prime Minister said: "I can't give you that blanket assurance. Let's wait for the details and you will hear from me and of course from the Work and Pensions Secretary next week in response."
Speaking on Saturday, Lord David Blunkett suggested the overall shake-up proposed by Mr Milburn could take longer than the 11 months it took Tony Blair's government to put in place its 1997 new deal for the unemployed. He told the BBC's Today programme: "It can be done and it's got to be done because nearly a million young people - half of them on benefits, half of them god knows what they are living on, actually out there not experiencing the world of meeting people and having a job and self-reliance. That's just totally unacceptable."
Lord Blunkett added: "I think there is a total will from the Prime Minister and from Pat McFadden, who is the Work and Pensions Secretary. This needs a complete reset - it's a transformation. When Alan presents to Cabinet on Tuesday morning, I think Andy Burnham will be asking every single one of them [ministers] to sign up to getting their departments to do their bit - and that isn't going to be easy."
He went on: "It's about transferring resource that currently go into paying for failure - keeping youngsters at home, isolated, lonely, into actually putting the money in and the resource and the commitment into making those jobs available."
