The number of young people not in employment or training in the UK is rising. The government has decided to review this worrying issue. The government is moving to carry out an independent review
into this .
The growing number of young people who are not in employment or training is a major blow to the economy. And the government is also responsible for such people. The inquiry into ‘NEETS’, an acronym for young people not in education, employment or training, will be led by former Labour health secretary Alan Milburn.
Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden said that the number of 16-24 year olds leaving an ‘opportunity crisis’ and urgent action was needed. It is not a new problem, but the number of young people taking the NEET – now one in eight – has been increasing in recent years and is approaching one million. A quarter of people cite , and the number of people claiming health and disability benefits is also increasing.
The government says Alan Milburn’s review will look at the reasons behind the increase and look at ways to reduce the long-term costs of youth inactivity and get young people off benefits and into work. Its findings will be published next summer. Prime Minister Keir Starmer has described the broad benefits system unsustainable and unfair, but so far selling welfare reform to Labour backbenchers has proven a political minefield for Number 10.
The number of young people claiming Universal Credit (UC) Health and Employment Support Allowance has increased by more than 50% in the past five years, according to the Department for Work and Pensions. Around 80% of young people on the UC health component are currently citing mental health reasons or a neurodevelopmental condition.
Asked whether he thought overdiagnosis was contributing to a mental health crisis among young people, McFadden was quoted by the Sunday Times as saying: ‘I don’t want to play amateur doctor. I want to approach this with sensitivity. ‘What is the best policy response given the increasing number of these conditions ? The question is whether there should be an automatic link between diagnosis and benefits.’ ‘
We cannot afford to lose a generation of young people to a life of benefits with no job prospects and no adequate prospects.’
Milburn said his review would be uncompromising and would expose any failures in employment support, education, skills, health and welfare. “We cannot stand by and watch as a generation of young people are thrust into a life without jobs or prospects ,” he said.
