Milburn review under-25s sickness benefits, Digi Mart USA News (United Kingdom): Under-25s would lose access to the main sickness and disability benefits under recommendations expected from Alan Milburn’s review, published on Tuesday.
Under-25s would be moved off the main sickness and disability benefits under recommendations expected from Alan Milburn’s government-commissioned review, the Times and BBC report. The former Labour health secretary has warned that some young claimants will receive less money.
The review addresses a population of 981,000 16-to-24-year-olds, 13.0% of the age group, who were not in education, employment or training in April to June 2026, according to the Office for National Statistics. It would also reshape support for the 430,000 16-to-24-year-olds claiming personal independence payment in England and Wales, the BBC reported.
As first reported by the Times, the review is expected to say that under-25s should no longer claim the health element of universal credit or personal independence payment (PIP). Instead they would receive an allowance at the same basic rate as universal credit.
The recommendations have not been published, and the amounts are not expected to be clear until the government publishes legislation early next year.
Milburn told the Times: “Candidly, it could mean that some people will get less financial support at the beginning of their benefit claim than under the current system.” He said on Wednesday night that the plans would not be “pain-free” and would affect both existing and new claimants. “A deal isn’t a deal unless there are potential consequences,” he said.
“Entitlements and responsibilities are two sides of the same coin.”
The ONS estimates 981,000 young people were NEET in April to June 2026, up 30,000 on a year earlier but down 30,000 on the previous quarter. Of these, 588,000 were economically inactive and 393,000 unemployed.
The ONS cautions that Labour Force Survey estimates for small groups are volatile and short-term changes should be treated carefully.
Milburn’s interim report, published on 28 May, estimated the cumulative annual cost of nearly one million NEET young people at £125 billion. It found six in ten NEET young people had never had a job, up from four in ten in 2005, and that around seven in ten young people claiming a health and disability benefit were still claiming a decade later.
Of £8.1 billion spent on key benefits for 16-to-24-year-olds, less than half had any participation support or requirements attached.
The review lands on a system already in flux. Under the Universal Credit Act 2025, a lower health element rate of £217.26 a month for new claimants took effect on 6 April 2026 and is frozen from 2027/28 to 2029/30, while the standard allowance rises above inflation, the House of Lords Library records.
The government originally proposed applying the lower rate to existing claimants too, but restricted it to new claims after opposition from Labour backbenchers. PIP eligibility changes were removed from the bill altogether.
A parallel review of PIP led by Sir Stephen Timms concluded in its July interim report that the system was not “fit for purpose”, with its final report expected in autumn 2026. The Burnham government has said it supports both reviews.
Labour backbencher Bell Ribeiro-Addy told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme she was “not sure” she could vote to cut the entitlement of existing claimants, noting that opposition to that idea had fuelled last year’s welfare rebellion. “I don’t think you get a disabled young person into work by taking away the money that helps them get into work,” she said.
Housing Minister Matthew Pennycook told BBC Breakfast he could not confirm the report’s contents but backed the principle of intensive employment support: “The prime minister has been very clear the status quo isn’t working; we need a new settlement for young people… tinkering will not do it.” A government spokesperson said: “We will always ensure there is a safety net for the most vulnerable and those who are unable to work.”
Milburn has said the new system would need significant investment and would involve “rebuilding the system from scratch”, with monetary savings to the state potentially almost a decade away. The review is published on Tuesday, and the legislation that will set the amounts follows early next year.
