DWP chief hails ‘early fruits’ of job assure to deal with UK’s Neets disaster
Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden hailed the ‘early fruits’ of the government’s jobs guarantee scheme for Neets who claiming Universal Credit as he met the first wave at Boots HQ in Nottingham
Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden, with Broxtowe MP Juliet Campbell and employee Kai(Image: Joe Giddens/PA Wire)
Labour’s work and pensions chief says he is “seeing the early fruits” of a drive to guarantee jobs for unemployed young people as he hailed the impact on their lives.
Pat McFadden warned the number of 16 to 24 year olds who are not earning or learning is too high – and said it is right that the government is ploughing cash into finding them placements. A new scheme to secure jobs for all young people who are not in education, employment or training – known as Neets – claiming Universal Credit and seeking work for over 18 months is expected to employ 90,000 by 2029.
Under the programme, announced by former Chancellor Rachel Reeves last year, the government fully funds up to 25 hours of paid work a week for six months. Mr McFadden said it is ministers’ responsibility to step in as he met some of the first workers to be taken on at Boots’ national headquarters in Nottingham.
The Work and Pensions Secretary told reporters: “I think for us to stand back, fold our arms and say, ‘This has nothing to do with us’… Well, that’s what was happening.” And he added: “I think we’ve got a responsibility.”
Calling for big businesses to get involved, he said: “I want this agenda of youth opportunity to be a national cause. And I strongly believe the government has its part to play, but it can’t only be government.”
On Thursday the latest Neets figures will be released by the Office for National Statistics (ONS), with the number expected to be hovering around one million. Former health study Alan Milburn, who is carrying out a review on the crisis, previously described it as a generational catastrophe.
Asked how low he wants the number of Neets to be by the next general election, Mr McFadden declined to give a figure but said: “Well, I want the numbers to come down.
“I think they’re too high. They’ve been too high for some years. This has been a long-term problem for the UK, it’s not a short-term problem. But the really steep rise in recent Neet numbers came after Covid, where the numbers went up by quarter of a million between 2021 and 2024. We now have about a million young people who are Neet.”
The government has said there will be sanctions for those who do not engage. Mr McFadden spoke to several young people who have been taken on by Boots. Many told him they had been unemployed for two years or more, despite applying for jobs.
He said: “I always say that the Department for Work and Pensions is where policy meets life. And it was just amazing for me to hear their stories.
“These are young people who have been out of work for one, two, up to four years at 20 years old, maybe a bit more. They got their first job here.
“Most of them have only been working here for a matter of weeks. And you can already see how it’s changed their confidence in themselves, their sense of belief in themselves.”
He said he had been told by Boots that all those taken on would get permanent jobs unless there were performance issues. Mr McFadden said: “When we create opportunities like the ones that you’ve seen today, we expect young people to engage with those opportunities. That seems to me a fair deal from the point of view of the state, the individual, the taxpayer.
“So, it is a package, but I think we’re seeing some very early fruits of it, and I think we’ll have to do more of this in the future.”
So far the scheme has been rolled out in six areas with the highest levels of unemployment among young people – Birmingham and Solihull, the East Midlands, Greater Manchester, Hertfordshire and Essex, Central and East Scotland and South East and South West Wales.
It will expand to all eligible 18 to 24 year olds later this year. Asked if this would have an impact on older people looking for work, Mr McFadden said: “We have over 50s work coaches, too. And we’re not neglecting anyone.
“But I would say there is a good reason to focus on the young, which is the very obvious one that their whole future is in front of them. And let me give you a startling fact. If someone aged 20 signs on to long-term sickness benefits at that age, they are more likely to celebrate their 30th birthday and still be on that benefit than to have had a steady job in between.”
The government has pledged £2.5billion investment in employment support for young people. Figures published in May showed nearly one in seven young people aged 16-24 were neither working nor learning, with the figure exceeding one million for the first time since 2013 in the three months from January to March.
It comes as Andy Burnham called on businesses to step forward to offer work experience to young people on a visit to Sainsburys, after the retailer announced 10,000 work placements for youngsters. He said: “We need a national drive to challenge youth unemployment and give more opportunities for our young people, and I would ask other businesses to do the same. We have a huge challenge: too many young people are out of work – but it can be fixed.”
