Burnham Calls a Million Young People Out of Work a Moral Failure
The prime minister, writing in a newspaper, says that almost a million 16 to 24-year-olds not in education, employment or training is “an economic catastrophe and a moral failure. And it must change.” He promises that “benefits will become the backstop, not the starting point”, with the system beginning from a young person’s ambitions rather than their entitlement.
This is the government adopting on Monday the argument Alan Milburn made on Sunday, when the author of its own review urged ministers to move money out of welfare and into employment support. Mr Burnham’s description of the present system is unusually blunt for a prime minister describing his own state: it “provides an assessment, a payment and, after that, goodbye. Too often there is no support, no offer of skills and no opportunity to get a job.” He blames two years of lockdown, social media that erodes confidence and belonging, an education system built around the university route, and thin job markets. The guarantee he offers is conditional in both directions: “the safety net will always be there for those who cannot work. But if someone can work with the right help, the government has a duty to do everything in its power to make that happen.” Ministers are expected this week to announce tens of thousands of apprenticeships and placements in construction and in professional firms. The Milburn review itself publishes next month, and the Budget is on 28 October.