'Shameful' more spent on benefits than jobs for young people, says adviser Alan Milburn

A recent review into youth inactivity has revealed a striking imbalance in government spending on young people. Alan Milburn, a former minister and author of the report, criticized the current approach by highlighting that the amount spent on welfare benefits for young people is 25 times greater than the funds allocated to help them into employment. Milburn described this situation as “shameful” and insisted on the urgent need for a “system reset” to address the challenges faced by nearly a million young people who are not in work or education.

In an exclusive conversation on Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Milburn emphasized the importance of reforming the welfare system. Although the government had paused some planned benefit reforms due to internal disagreement, Milburn insisted that overhauling welfare was essential. His review, commissioned by the government, seeks to investigate why youth unemployment and disengagement from education or training have reached their highest levels in over a decade. According to Office for National Statistics data from October to December 2025, 957,000 young people — or 12.8% of that age group — were categorized as Neet (not in education, employment, or training). More than half of these young people were not actively seeking work, classified as economically inactive.

Milburn’s forthcoming report will argue that the issue stems from systemic failure, extending beyond welfare to include the education, skills, and health systems. He stated, “This is a failure. This is the failure of the welfare system, but it’s a failure, I’m sorry, of the school system, the skills system, the health system.” According to him, young people are being pushed into a life reliant on benefits instead of being supported into productive learning or employment, which comes at a significant personal and societal cost. A key finding from his review highlights the wide gap in funding: “For every £25 that we spend keeping young people on benefits, we spend only a pound helping them get into work through employment support,” Milburn said.

Looking forward, Milburn plans to publish further recommendations later this year, calling for a full reform of the welfare system as part of a comprehensive overhaul of public institutions. Directing his message to members of the Labour Party who may be hesitant about welfare changes, he remarked, “Labour is what it says on the tin. It’s the party of work. Work gives purpose. Work gives income. Work gives meaning.” The report will also discuss the real rise in mental health challenges among young people but stresses that such diagnoses should not preclude expectations or encouragement to participate in the workforce. Reflecting on the changing job market, Milburn noted the disappearance of entry-level jobs, recalling his own experience of being fired from his first paper round as a teenager. He observed, “Nowadays the number of young people who are actually in employment has been falling and it’s been falling probably for about 25 years. Entry level jobs are disappearing, so the jobs that you used to be able to get for the first rung on the ladder, they’ve gone.

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