Subsidised jobs for long-term unemployed youngsters expanded ahead of major 'Neets' report

Subsidised jobs for long-term unemployed youngsters expanded ahead of major 'Neets' report The move comes as Alan Milburn prepares to publish his report into tackling the almost one million youngsters classed as ‘Neets’ - those not in employment, education or training A subsidised job scheme for long-term unemployed young people will be expanded to help more 18 to 24-year-olds, DWP chief Pat McFadden has announced. After a trial in six areas with some of the highest levels of youth unemployment, including Greater Manchester and South West Wales, the programme will be rolled out nationally. Eligibility for the ‘Jobs Guarantee’ will also be extended from April 2027. It had been available for those claiming Universal Credit for 18 months - but will now be slashed to 12 months to help thousands more. Under the scheme, the government funds up to 25 hours of paid work a week for 6 months. The 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. "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.” But the author of the review into youth unemployment will urge ministers to go further when he publishes his long-awaited report this week. Alan Milburn’s review into tackling the almost one million youngsters classed as ‘Neets’ - those not in employment, education or training - will call for a guarantee of a job or training to be enshrined in law. The former Labour Cabinet minister said the legal duty should be placed on the government as he prepares to present his recommendations to Andy Burnham’s Cabinet on Tuesday. Mr Milburn told the BBC in an interview to be broadcast on Sunday 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?” The former Cabinet minister said 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.” But he also warned his call for a legal duty on the government would be a “straight-forward deal” for young people in Britain. 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 on 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.” But one of the key rebels behind last year’s push for Keir Starmer to abandon his ill-fated cuts to sickness and disability benefits appeared to defend Mr Milburn’s approach earlier this week. Dame Meg Hiller argued the plans set out so far were “very different to what was happening a year and a half ago”. Another key 2025 rebel, Louise Haigh, now sits in Mr Burnham’s Cabinet as his second-in-command as First Secretary of State. 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”. But 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. But 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. But 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.”