Young people deserve a legal 'guarantee' of a job, training or employment support, Alan Milburn has said, but face losing benefits if they decline.
asserted
they → deserve → benefits
The former Labour health secretary's review into youth unemployment is set to be published next week.
asserted
review → set → unemployment
The report will recommend how to curb the number of so-called Neets – 16 to 24-year-olds not in education, employment or training – which topped a million earlier this year for the first time in more than a decade.
asserted
which → recommend → decade
Ahead of its release on Tuesday, Mr Milburn told the BBC there should be a legal duty on the Government to ensure young people have access to a route into employment.
asserted
people → tell → employment
In the interview, due to be broadcast on Sunday, Mr Milburn described the proposal as an 'opportunity guarantee'.
asserted
Milburn → broadcast → guarantee
He said: 'It should be a guarantee for a young person.
asserted
It → say → person
Because at the moment the only guarantee they've got is a very simple thing.
asserted
they → get → moment
According to Mr Milburn, the proposal might work similarly to the way that local councils have a legal responsibility to offer accommodation or advice to the homeless, or accommodate children in care.
uncertain
councils → accord → care
He said previous employment schemes have been temporary, and do not go far enough to tackle the problem of young people not in education, employment or training.
asserted
schemes → say → education
Young people deserve a legal 'guarantee' of a job, training or employment support, Alan Milburn (left) has said, ahead of his review being published on Tuesday
The Government plans to bring forward major welfare reforms in 2027 amid efforts to reduce the number of NEETs
asserted
Government → deserve → NEETs
Mr Milburn added those who do not take up the initiatives could lose their benefits, telling the BBC having young people on benefits is 25 times more costly than what the spending would be on employment support.
uncertain
spending → add → support
He suggested that ratio should be cut down to two to one, which would mean significant cuts to benefit spending and a substantial injection of funds into training, education or other forms of support.
uncertain
which → suggest → support
His comments come after Prime Minister Andy Burnham described Mr Milburn's forthcoming report as a 'watershed moment', but stopped short of committing to implementing its recommendations in full.
Mr Milburn is expected to call for under-25s to no longer be able to claim the health element of universal credit (UC) or personal independence payments, moving them instead to a 'youth allowance', paid at the same level as the standard rate of UC.
uncertain
under-25s → come → UC
However, all the savings from the move would go towards an immediate drive to get youths back into the workforce.
asserted
savings → go → workforce
That could mean taxpayers spending an extra £6billion a year in the short term, according to think-tank Resolution Foundation.
uncertain
taxpayers → mean → Foundation
The review is central to Andy Burnham's claim the Government can rein in the runaway welfare bill 'in a Labour way'.
uncertain
Government → rein → way
But the PM admitted last week the reforms would require 'investment up front'.
asserted
reforms → admit → front
The idea of taking away benefits is already causing disquiet among Labour MPs, who killed off a previous attempt to curb welfare spending under Sir Keir Starmer.
asserted
who → take → Starmer
One likely rebel branded the proposals 'ludicrous'.
asserted
rebel → brand → proposals
The former Labour health secretary is expected to point to countries such as the Netherlands, Germany and Denmark which spend far more on job support measures and have lower youth unemployment rates in the review.
asserted
which → expect → review
Asked whether he would accept the politically sensitive report in full, Mr Burnham declined to provide that 'blanket assurance'.
asserted
Burnham → ask → assurance
He told reporters in Dublin on Friday: 'We will have to wait until the report is published.
asserted
report → tell → Friday
It's a wide-ranging report, and obviously we'll set out our response next week.
asserted
we → range → response
'But I think it's really important to see the report as quite a watershed moment I think in terms of how we think about supporting young people and supporting young people into work.
'
asserted
we → think → work
It's starting to point to a very different way of thinking about welfare and support, and moving more towards guaranteeing support for young people to move forward and get into work, rather than leaving them in a situation where they don't get the support when they need it and then end up on benefits in their 20s.
asserted
they → start → 20s
Nobody wants that.
asserted
Nobody → want → that
So there are big implications, but I think we'll have to wait for the report.
asserted
we → be → report
There's lots of detailed recommendations, so I can't give you that blanket assurance here tonight.'
asserted
I → be → assurance
And speaking at the Welsh Labour conference on Saturday, Mr Burnham added: 'Next week, we will see Alan Milburn produce his report.
asserted
Milburn → speak → report
And, as he says in his own words, he's not just talking about youth unemployment.
asserted
he → say → unemployment
'Sadly, we've seen a phenomenon grow post-pandemic of youth detachment, of too many young people feeling lost in their 20s and feeling there's no alternative other than benefits.
asserted
people → see → benefits
Well, we can do better for them.
asserted
we → do → them
We are going to bring forward a vision around rethinking childhood and reimagining youth in terms of the support that we give them, it can't be right that we've stripped support away from young people as a society, as life was getting harder for them, and growing up was getting more difficult.'
asserted
growing → go → them
Lord David Blunkett said money from cuts to welfare payments should be redeployed as employment support, rather than saved, 'at least in the immediate future'.
asserted
money → say → future
The former home secretary and key mentor to Andy Burnham said he believed the Prime Minister had a 'total will' and 'would be asking his Cabinet to sign up to getting their departments to do their bit, and that isn't going to be easy because there's a built-in inertia'.
asserted
that → say → bit
Speaking on BBC Radio 4's Today programme, he said: 'This is going to have to be completely different.
asserted
This → speak → programme
And it's about transferring resource that currently goes into paying for failure, keeping youngsters at home, isolated, lonely, into actually putting the money in and the resource and the commitment in to making those jobs available.'
asserted
jobs → transfer → money
He added that he believed the reforms would take 'a bit longer than the 11 months it took us to put the new deal for the unemployed in place', but that 'it can be done, and it's got to be done'.
asserted
it → add → place
Lord Blunkett said: 'It's got to be a promise, not a threat.
asserted
It → say → ?
And if you're saying: 'Oh, we're all in favour of taking benefits away,' but as with the Daily Telegraph editorial yesterday, you then say: 'Don't put that money back in, save it,' then we're not going to get anywhere at all.
asserted
we → say → it
…and 1 more, not listed.
The Aporia
