The government has launched a comprehensive review of youth unemployment and appointed former industrial health secretary Alan Milburn to examine the growing role of mental health and disability in the advancement of economically inactive young people.
Almost a million people aged 16 to 24 in the UK are currently not in education, employment or training (Neets) – a figure that is worrying ministers and policymakers. Milburn’s report examines how to prevent young people from becoming trapped outside of work or education. The results are expected to be published next summer.
The announcement comes just days after the Mayfield Review, led by former John Lewis chairman Sir Charlie Mayfield, warned that “young adults” aged 16 to 34 were at the heart of Britain’s “economic inactivity crisis”. Its report found that the number of 16- to 34-year-olds who are long-term ill and inactive due to mental illness has increased by 190,000 since 2019, a jump of 75 percent.
At the start of the review, Pat McFadden, the work and pensions secretary, said the UK was facing an “opportunity crisis” among its younger generation.
“We cannot afford to lose a generation of young people to a life on welfare, with no job prospects and without enough hope,” he said. “This requires more action to give them the chance to learn or earn money.”
The government is expected to unveil a “youth guarantee” in this month’s budget – a policy that promises paid work to young people who have been on general credit for 18 months or more without finding work or training.
The Department for Work and Pensions said Milburn’s review will provide “practical recommendations” to help young people with health problems access training, education or work and “ensure they are supported to succeed and are not sidelined”.
The initiative comes amid a series of government efforts to combat long-term illness and economic inactivity. It follows the Timms Review, which is currently examining personal independence payments (PIP) – the benefit that covers the additional costs of physical and mental disabilities.
Milburn, who was health secretary under Tony Blair from 1999 to 2003 and now serves as a senior non-executive director at the Department of Health and Social Care, said his review would be “uncompromising in uncovering failings” in the employment, education and welfare systems.
“I will make far-reaching recommendations for change to improve young people’s learning and earning opportunities,” he said.
The increase in the number of young people unable to work due to mental health problems has become one of the government’s most pressing challenges. Economists warn that increasing inactivity reduces productivity and slows growth.
While successive governments have released reports diagnosing the problem, few have managed to reverse the trend. Critics say underfunded mental health services, coupled with the pressures of insecure work and high costs of living, have created a generation increasingly disconnected from the job market.
Milburn’s findings are expected to feed directly into Rachel Reeves’ upcoming budget, which will include new spending commitments to reduce inactivity and boost youth employment.
The hope in Whitehall is that this review – which combines evidence from the health and employment sectors – will finally produce a shared plan to get Britain’s lost young workforce back into the economy.
