UK Work and Pensions Secretary confirms some young people will lose benefits ahead of Alan Milburn NEET review, Digi Mart USA News (United Kingdom): Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden has confirmed that certain young people will no longer receive benefits they are currently entitled to, ahead of the publication of a major review into rising youth unemployment. McFadden said a “complete reset” of the system was needed to support 16 to 24-year-olds not in education, employment or training, a group whose numbers exceeded one million earlier this year.
The review, led by former Labour health secretary Alan Milburn, is due to be published on Tuesday and is expected to recommend sweeping changes to reduce welfare dependency. Milburn has indicated that some young people would receive reduced financial support under his proposals, including being moved from some health-related benefits onto a new “youth allowance” paid at the standard rate of universal credit.
Asked on the BBC’s Sunday With Laura Kuenssberg programme whether some individuals should lose the welfare they currently receive, McFadden said: “There will be people in the future who will not get what they would get today.” He added that people are reassessed under the current system and, when they come up for reassessment, they move onto a new one.
He would not confirm whether the overall working-age benefits bill would fall by the next election, saying benefits are uprated every year to keep pace with the cost of living.
Labour leader Andy Burnham described the report as a “watershed” moment but stopped short of pledging to accept its recommendations in full. The Prime Minister also said the reforms would be funded by “spending differently” within government rather than through “more money”, although Milburn has said investment would likely run into the “billions” over a decade.
Milburn argued that moving more quickly or aggressively would result in “crude cuts” that simply shift young people into other parts of government accounts.
Milburn also said young people deserve a “legal guarantee” of a pathway into employment, which he calls an “opportunity guarantee”. McFadden supported the idea that employment support needs “legislative underpinning”.
Shadow work and pensions secretary Helen Whately said a legal entitlement “might sound a nice thing to do” but “doesn’t make sense”, while welcoming the move away from “handing out cash for relatively mild conditions” towards employment support. Reform UK’s Danny Kruger said he was “encouraged” by calls for stricter benefit rules for young people but doubted Labour would follow through.
