Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden has announced plans to expand youth work experience and training schemes, aiming to create 300,000 extra placements over the next three years. The move comes after former minister Alan Milburn warned that Britain is spending £25 keeping young people on benefits for every £1 spent helping them into work.
McFadden described the situation as a 'quiet crisis', with nearly one million 16- to 24-year-olds not in education, employment or training (Neet). He noted that almost 60% of these young people have never had a job, blaming the disappearance of traditional 'first rung' jobs in retail and the pandemic's disruption of workplace experience.
Around half of the new placements will come through sector-based work academy programmes (Swaps), six-week training schemes with guaranteed job interviews. Government analysis shows Swaps participants are 13% more likely to be in work two years later, with four in ten moving into sustained employment within six months.
Alan Milburn, a former Labour health secretary, called the neglect of young people 'shameful' and a 'scandal'. He highlighted that for every £25 spent on benefits, only £1 goes to employment support. Construction is the largest Swap sector, with employers including Manchester Airport Group, JD, and Gatwick airport backing the expanded placements.
Milburn also pointed to a sharp rise in young people reporting work-limiting health conditions, particularly mental health and neurodiversity. He questioned why a diagnosis should lead to benefits rather than work, and criticised the state for being more comfortable managing young people outside the workforce.
Separately, the Times reported that the government is considering a bursary for families on benefits to prevent them from discouraging children aged 16 and 17 from taking apprenticeships, as parents can lose child benefit and universal credit when their children start work.
