Youth Unemployment

Question

Asked by

To ask His Majesty’s Government what steps they are taking to reduce youth unemployment.

My Lords, the Government are investing over £1.5 billion through the youth guarantee and growth and skills levy to support 16 to 24 year-olds to gain the skills and experience they need to earn and learn. A key part of this is the jobs guarantee, which provides six months of paid work for every eligible 18 to 21 year-old on universal credit for 18 months, funded for 25 hours a week with wraparound support. Grant applications for phase 1 opened on 29 January to identify delivery partners, and delivery will begin from spring 2026 in six high-need areas before expanding nationally, supporting around 55,000 young people over three years.

My Lords, I am grateful for that reply, and I welcome the initiatives the Minister has just mentioned, such as the youth guarantee. However, do not those initiatives need to be accompanied by welfare reform, which can quite often pull young people in the opposite direction? A few weeks ago, the Prime Minister said:

“Our welfare state is trapping people, not just in poverty but out of work—young people in particular”.

That was reinforced by Alan Milburn, the Government’s employment tsar, who said:

“We’re spending more money on health and disability benefits for 16 to 24-year-olds than we are on apprenticeships. Is that really the right priority?”

Will the forthcoming King’s Speech therefore take the difficult but necessary decisions to reform welfare and allay the concerns of the Minister’s colleagues?

Well, this is welfare reform. It is wrong that there are 900,000 young people who are neither earning nor learning, which is why we are changing the system. We are ensuring that there is an earlier interview for young people. We are introducing 300,000 more opportunities for young people to gain work experience or training linked to an employer. Then we are ensuring that they have a backstop work placement that they will be expected to take at the end of 18 months. That is welfare reform, which this Government are putting in place to respond to the challenges left by the previous one.

My Lords, can my noble friend the Minister tell the House what data, if any, the Government hold on the casual employment of young people between the ages of 16 and 18? Does she agree with me that young people who are able to find employment over this period, when they are often in full-time education as well, are given a range of experience that is extremely helpful to them when they come to seek full-time employment after their education is over?

My noble friend raises an interesting point. There seems to be some evidence that young people are doing less of that type of work. This is part of what Alan Milburn will look at in his review, which will consider the causes of the growing numbers of young people who are neither earning nor learning. That is of course why being able to provide placements through some of the courses that young people take and the work experience that will be part of the youth guarantee gateway will be important for those young people who have not otherwise had the opportunity to understand what it is like to be in a workplace.

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My Lords, we have plenty of time. It is the Lib Dem Benches next, then the Cross Benches.

My Lords, I thank the Minister for that information, but can she say what assessment has been made of the impact of poor mental health on young people’s ability to gain work? What is the connection between the Department for Work and Pensions and the NHS in dealing with this problem?

This is precisely one of the questions that Alan Milburn will consider in his review. There appears to be a growing number of young people who are out of work for whom mental health issues are part of the reason. For many of those young people, it may well be that they would be better off in appropriate work. Being clear about the nature of that problem is an important part of Alan Milburn’s review. That, of course, goes alongside the additional support this Government are providing at an earlier stage in our schools to ensure that all schools also have access to mental health professionals, so that we can stop some of these problems earlier and before they escalate to blight people’s lives.

My Lords, does the Minister agree with me that a balanced school education is hugely important in this to allow the widest possible opportunities for our young people?

Yes, I do. That is why, through the curriculum and assessment review, we have ensured that young people are getting the skills and knowledge they need to succeed in life and in work. We will continue to ensure that that is the case throughout our schools.

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