TUC chief urges UK to expand youth employment support

Milburn review delayed after budget, Guardian cites fears over chancellor’s plans

Paul Nowak, general secretary of the Trades Union Congress, said ministers must sharply increase investment in employment support, education and training. Speaking to The Guardian before the Milburn review into young people and work, Nowak said the government had a “once in a generation chance” to secure young people’s futures. A photograph by Andrew Fox/The Guardian accompanying the report showed Alan Milburn meeting disabled and autistic young adults who were part of an internship project at the Magna centre in Sheffield.

Nowak said the costs of increasing job support, education and training would be outweighed by economic gains that could ease pressure on the welfare state. “There is no solution that is cost-free,” he said. “The government is going to have to be prepared to invest in securing the future of those young people, but also to invest to secure what is the future of our economy.” He added: “This is where the government is going to have to be clear. Of course as a country it’s right to invest in our physical infrastructure, but also we have to invest in social infrastructure too.”

Nowak called on Burnham to deliver a step change in employment support and said increased investment could bring down the benefits bill by getting more young people into work. “We can’t afford to not do this stuff, as the benefits bill will go up if young people are not supported,” he said. He said he did not think the government would repeat the previous attempt at benefit reform, which involved arbitrary cuts affecting some of the most vulnerable people without considering how to support them into work.

Ministers were braced for the report by Alan Milburn, the former Labour health secretary, to recommend welfare cuts to fund job support for almost a million young people who are not in education, employment or training (Neet). A photograph by Joe Giddens/PAM accompanying the report showed Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden visiting a Boots warehouse in Nottingham to discuss a “jobs guarantee” scheme that offers subsidised jobs for young people.

The Guardian’s standfirst said the Milburn report would be published “this week,” while the article’s body said it was expected next week. A government statement quoted in the report said the review would be published in the autumn. The Guardian said the report had been delayed until after the budget amid fears that a call for welfare cuts would sit uneasily alongside Chancellor John Healey’s tax and spending plans.

Prime Minister Andy Burnham said the surge in the number of young people not in education, employment or training was an “economic catastrophe and a moral failure.” Burnham said tougher benefit rules and more help for young people would form part of the government’s response to the Milburn report.

The Guardian reported that Burnham has been at pains to take a cautious approach to avoid a repeat of the “welfare rebellion” it described. The paper said the episode forced Keir Starmer and Rachel Reeves into what it called an embarrassing and costly U-turn on planned disability-benefit cuts within a year of coming to power.

Concern about youth worklessness was reflected in polling by the research company Focaldata for the Jobs Foundation. The poll found that most Britons now saw the youth jobs crisis as one of the country’s biggest problems, ranking it second only to the cost of living and above NHS waiting lists, housing, crime and immigration.

The Jobs Foundation, an employment charity co-founded by Conservative peer Matthew Elliott, is behind a national campaign to tackle worklessness that launches on Monday. The campaign includes a pledge backed by a group of leading employers, including Amazon, Pret a Manger, NatWest, Marks & Spencer and Shell. Those employers have committed to support young people who have been overlooked for work.

A government spokesperson said: “We are determined to turn the tide on youth unemployment which has been years in the making.” The spokesperson said the government had already pledged £2.5bn in youth employment support, which will deliver almost 500,000 opportunities to earn and learn. The spokesperson said the government was also engaging with businesses, including some of Britain’s biggest retail and hospitality brands, to create up to 200,000 jobs for young people. The government statement added that further reform would follow the Milburn review.