Young Britons will have their benefit payments, including Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment (PIP), slashed under new reforms being introduced by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP).
The new Labour Government is urging hundreds of thousands of young people to take up training or apprenticeships under back-to-work plans which will be unveiled later this month.
Councils and mayors will be told to find young people aged between 18 to 21 who are either unemployed or on sickness leave to provide them either a job or training as part of a “youth guarantee”.
DWP secretary Liz Kendall is expected to publish a three-point plan for getting Britain’s youth back into the workplace.
It is understood she will cite the post-Covid increase in economic inactivity as being one of the greatest issues impacting the UK economy.
Notably, drastic reforms to sickness benefits are being written up for early 2025 which could impact eligibility criteria for PIP, the primary disability benefit provided by the DWP.
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Benefits could be cut for young people as part of a planned DWP overhaul
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Some 2.8 million individuals are not in work due to suffering from long-term illness with the cost of DWP sickness benefits jumping from £40million to £65billion pre to post-Covid.
Under current projections, this figure is expected to exceed £100billion by the end of this Parliament.
Among the groups which have seen a hike in the number of claims are young people, particularly for mental health conditions which make up a third of all claims for disability support.
A “get Britain working” white paper is set to be published within the next weeks to outline how Kendall plans to work with local authorities to carry out this DWP overhaul.
The rumoured “youth guarantee” will target those aged 16 to 24 who are not in education, employment or training.
Official figures suggest that nearly two-thirds of this demographic are not in work or actively looking for employment.
Local businesses will be urged to work alongside colleges, housing bodies and other local authorities to co-ordinate outreach but mayors and councils have overall accountability for the changes.
Kendall is said to have told MPs that the “youth guarantee” is for “finding those who are already not in education, employment or training, join up the support and bring them back in”.
Any DWP claimant can lose benefits if they do not take up job offers or attend interviews.
However, the white paper is expected to propose imposing similar punishments for those who reject education and training.
A Government source told The Times: “We will expect engagement with our attractive offer of support to get on in life that will come through our white paper, which will bring in the biggest reforms to employment support in a generation.
“Conditionality is a fundamental principle of the social security system and has always existed. That’s not going to change.”
