The young people at risk of being criminalised by a benefits crackdown

Résumé détaillé

“ The whole system needs to changed ,” Milburn told The Times. The current set-up, he rightly said, “is geared to keep young people inactive when, for young people in particular,…

Alan Milburn is right to grasp the nettle. On Tuesday we’ll see his long-awaited report on the million or more people aged 18-24 who are not in education, employment or training – known as Neets. The widespread fear is that hundreds of thousands of this generation have become so accustomed to their inactive world without learning new skills or the discipline of going to work every day that they’ll be permanently blighted: condemned to lives on benefits, doing nothing much, or even lured into crime.

Instead, Milburn wants a radical crusade to get hundreds of thousands of these young adults into learning, apprenticeships and jobs. For people under 24, he also recommends cutting benefits for health problems, especially mental illnesses, to stop them becoming trapped in benefits culture “in perpetuity”. Personal independence payments (PIP) for these young adults and the health element of Universal Credit would be replaced by a more meagre new Youth Allowance.

“The whole system needs to changed,” Milburn told The Times. The current set-up, he rightly said, “is geared to keep young people inactive when, for young people in particular, it’s all about how can you make them active, get them earning, learning, so that they can rely on a wage rather than on a benefit”.

He’s right. And most voters will probably agree. Many think the benefits system makes life too easy for young people. But there are two major obstacles to Milburn’s plans: politics and cost.

Milburn has also acknowledged his radical programme to get Neets into training, skills and work could cost £6bn a year. In the long term, his hope is that investment will be repaid by young adults getting jobs, moving off benefits, and paying taxes. Maybe. Maybe not. This extra spending demand comes at a time when John Healey can’t yet find the billions needed for defence.

Milburn recommends that billions be invested in employment support, including a vast new team of personal advisers to give Neets one-to-one consultations.

We’ve…

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