DWP data on disabled young people not in education, employment or training, Digi Mart USA News (United Kingdom): Almost half of Neet young people are classed as disabled, Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) data shows. Just under half of young people not in work, education or training were classed as disabled in the year to March, a proportion that has more than doubled in just over a decade.
The Labour Party government is currently working on reducing the number of 16 to 24-year-olds not in education, employment or training, known as Neets. A review is expected to be published in the coming weeks with recommendations for changes to the system.
The number of Neets topped one million earlier this year for the first time in more than a decade, fuelling calls for more help to get young people into work.
DWP data published this week showed 45.3% of Neets were classed as disabled in the year to March. The Department for Work and Pensions said this was a rise of 24.2 percentage points from 21.1% in the 12 months to March 2014.
The latest data showed disabled young people were more than three times as likely to be Neet as non-disabled young people, at 30.2% compared with 8.6%. Depression, bad nerves or anxiety was the most common main health condition reported by disabled Neets, accounting for almost a quarter (23.8%), followed by autism (22.7%).
The development comes ahead of Alan Milburn’s long-awaited report, which is due to be published this month. The Milburn Review is expected to recommend “tough love” alongside a major new “participation” programme to be run by local authorities.
The Work Foundation at Lancaster University said previously that the Government’s Youth Guarantee has the potential to help address these issues, but only if additional support begins earlier than the 18 months currently proposed. Evidence shows the longer someone spends out of work, the harder it is to return.
The Work Foundation also said the Guarantee must be aligned with improved access to health support for young people, especially for mental health, and must ensure the jobs on offer are secure, with fair pay and routes to progression.
Aman Navani, policy analyst at the Work Foundation at Lancaster University, said the levels of disabled Neet young people have “changed dramatically over the last decade.” He added: “In order to address this worrying trend, policymakers must provide enhanced support to find work or training but recognise that additional health support, in particular mental health support, will be critical for young people to enter and remain in work.”
The Times reports that combined and local authorities will be given government funding to get young people in their area into jobs, a move the Treasury hopes will reduce the welfare bill in the long term.
