Burnham pledges to put work before benefits in overhaul of youth support

Almost a million young people are neither in work, education nor training, a figure the Prime Minister describes as both an economic catastrophe and a moral failure demanding urgent remedy.

Writing in the Times, Andy Burnham set out his case for investing in the success of the young rather than paying for failure through the benefits system. "Benefits will become the backstop, not the starting point," he wrote in the piece published on Monday.

This week the government is expected to announce plans aimed at giving young people thousands of job opportunities. The Conservative Party has already dismissed the youth employment strategy as "a disaster".

According to the latest figures from the Office for National Statistics, nearly one million people aged 16 to 24 are classified as Neets—not in education, employment or training. Around 39 per cent are unemployed, while the remaining 61 per cent are economically inactive, meaning they are not seeking work. The number of 18 to 24-year-olds claiming unemployment-related benefits stands at 331,000, almost double the figure in 2016, though below the peaks of around 500,000 seen after the 2008 financial crisis and the Covid pandemic in 2020.

The government will spend £353bn on welfare next year, just under half of it on the state pension, with the remainder going on benefits including health, disability and unemployment payments. In his column, Burnham said this reflected "a generation being denied its chance to get on in life". He wrote: "This is an economic catastrophe and a moral failure. And it must change."

The Prime Minister attributed the Neets crisis to two years of Covid lockdowns, social media that erodes "confidence and sense of belonging", an education system focused on the university route, job markets with too few opportunities, and the failures of previous governments. "Today, the welfare system provides an assessment, a payment and, after that, goodbye," he wrote. "Too often there is no support, no offer of skills and no opportunity to get a job."

He signalled a shift in approach, saying welfare would no longer begin by establishing which benefits a young person is entitled to but rather with their ambitions and the help they need to achieve them. "The safety net will always be there for those who cannot work," he added. "But if someone can work with the right help, the government has a duty to do everything in its power to make that happen."

Ministers are this week set to unveil plans for 22,400 apprenticeships a year in fields such as accountancy, legal services and consultancy, alongside 40,000 placements in the construction industry. Julia Lopez, the Conservative shadow business and trade secretary, said: "Labour have been a disaster for youth jobs. Their tax hikes and red tape have made it harder for businesses to hire, invest and grow, destroying opportunities for young people looking to take their first step on the career ladder." Her party has said it would cut £36bn a year from the welfare budget, partly by reinstating the two-child limit on Universal Credit and restricting who receives housing benefit.

Burnham confirmed that the long-awaited full review of young people and work will be published next month, and vowed to take its recommendations seriously. The review's author, Alan Milburn, has suggested benefits could be cut. The former health secretary told the Guardian there was a need to "redistribute money from the welfare system to more employment support". He said: "This is not a workshy, snowflake generation. If we provide more opportunities and we provide more support, the overwhelming majority of young people will take that, because that's what they want. The system isn't delivering what young people want, which is a job."

Milburn calculated that the government spends 25 times more on benefits for young people than on getting them into work, describing the current rate of Neets as "shameful". To cut the benefits bill, both Burnham and Milburn will need the support of Labour MPs who previously baulked at Sir Keir Starmer's attempts to reduce spending by £5bn a year. Backbenchers objected to proposals tightening restrictions on those claiming working-age health-related benefits, and after a rebellion the then prime minister was forced to abandon his plans.

Chancellor John Healey delivers his first Budget on 28 October and will hope the Office for Budget Responsibility takes into account expected savings from employment support when judging whether the government is meeting its spending and borrowing rules.