Why are nearly one million young people out of work, training and education?

Young people on benefits are to be offered job opportunities in industries including construction and hospitality in a bid to tackle a sharp rise in youth unemployment.

Around 946,000 young people (aged 16 to 24) are currently estimated to be not in education, employment, or training (NEET), a rise of 195,000 in the last two years.

That’s around 12.7% of all people in this age group, according to the ONS, and according to work and pensions secretary Pat McFadden, this has gone up by about a third in just a few years.

In a bid to get this number down and to reduce the number of Universal Credit claimants, ministers have announced an £820m package to get more young people into work.

“Every young person deserves a fair chance to succeed. When given the right support and opportunities, they will grasp them.”

The offer will come with some conditions however, with the possibility of young people losing access to benefits if they refuse to engage with offers of help.

What is the government proposing?

The government’s £820m package includes funding for training and work experience in construction, hospitality, and health and social care for 350,000 young people on Universal Credit.

In total, 900,000 young people on Universal Credit and looking for work will also benefit from a dedicated work support session, followed by four additional weeks of intensive support.

They will be referred to one of up to six pathways by their work coach: work, work experience, apprenticeship, wider training, learning or a workplace training programme with a guaranteed interview, designed in partnership with employers.

Young people will receive six weeks of training, work experience, and a guaranteed job interview, with the aim of getting their foot through the door towards employment.

Some young people will be offered “intensive support” to help them find work, while government-backed guaranteed jobs will be provided for up to 55,000 young people from spring 2026.

The subsidised offer of jobs, aimed at the most persistent long-term youth unemployment, will only be available to those out of work for 18 months or longer.

This initiative will provide 25 hours per week of fully subsidised work for six months to every eligible 18-to-21-year-old, who will be paid at the relevant minimum wage with “fully funded wrap around support”.

“That is only the people who don’t get a job through the training, which has got a high success rate,” McFadden told the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg programme.

The guaranteed-job scheme will be rolled out from Spring 2026, in the highest-need areas of Britain, which are: Birmingham & Solihull, East Midlands, Greater Manchester, Hertfordshire & Essex, Central & East Scotland, Southwest & Southeast Wales.

Asked if many employers are likely to be on board with such a scheme, McFadden told the BBC: “We’ve got good partnerships with employers in retail, construction and other sectors.

“We will get the employers to offer the training. There’s no reason why they shouldn’t – this is backed by government money and government investment. We understand that taking people on is a risk, that’s why we think the government should step up and help employers do that.”

What has the reaction been?

The Conservative Party has suggested that the government’s proposals lack substance.

Shadow work and pensions secretary Helen Whately said: “The chancellor’s tax hikes are driving up youth unemployment, snatching a career from a generation of young people; this scheme is nothing more than taking with one hand to give with the other.

“This is an admission that the government has no plan for growth, no plan to create real jobs, and no way of measuring whether any of this money delivers results.

“Ministers cannot say what the roles are, who the employers will be, or how many will still exist once the funding ends.”

Ben Harrison, director of the work foundation at Lancaster University, said that while it is “welcome” that the government is trying to tackle this issue, focus must be on genuine long-term career progression.

“These schemes must focus on connecting individuals to ‘good’ jobs with a living wage, job security and opportunities to progress if they are to lead to long-term sustained employment.

“If reforms end up pushing young people into ‘any job’ under the threat of benefit sanctions, they may do more harm than good to their future work prospects.”

However, Youth Employment UK, a non-profit social enterprise, described the offer as a “a hugely important step forward”.

“We particularly welcome the commitment to early support, personalised pathways and strong local partnerships,” its CEO and founder Laura-Jane Rawlings said.

Richard Rigby, Head of UK Government Affairs at The King’s Trust said: “This Youth Guarantee is a crucial step towards unlocking that potential.

“Increasing training and work experience opportunities, alongside a guaranteed job scheme for the long-term unemployed, will help the young people we support in our centres each day to start overcoming the barriers they face, and take their first steps into work.

“If we get this right, we can transform the futures of young people out of work across the UK, and build a healthier, wealthier society.”

Why are so many young people out of work, training and education?

A sharp increase in young people not in education, employment or training is thought to be largely down to sickness and disability.

Nearly half of NEET young people are disabled, according to Harrison, who said “it is vital that participants have some agency over the types of jobs and sectors they work in” under the government’s scheme.

A report by the Learning and Work Institute and the King’s Trust said that the number of young people reporting a mental health problem has increased from 11 per cent in 2011 to almost a third (30%) in 2022.

The Covid-19 pandemic appears to have played a big role, according to the report, which found 46% of young people without a job said they have additional mental health issues or caring responsibilities due to the Covid-19 pandemic, which meant they were out of work.

The Resolution Foundation claims that more than a quarter of all NEETs are inactive due to sickness or disability, and nearly half are not claiming benefits, meaning “they are unlikely to be reached by Jobcentre-based programmes”.

With the number of NEET young people standing at around 940,000, the foundation has warned that the figure is on course to reach one million for the first time since the aftermath of the financial crisis, when it peaked at 1.2 million in 2012.

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