Alan Milburn says Andy Burnham must make job or training offers for young people legal guarantee

详细摘要

The recommendation will form a central part of Alan Milburn’s long-awaited report into tackling the almost one million 18-24-year-olds not in education, employment or training

A guarantee of a job or training for young people should be enshrined in law, a major review into youth unemployment will demand.

The recommendation will form a central part of Alan Milburn’s long-awaited report into tackling the almost one million 18-24-year-olds not in education, employment or training. He will present his verdict to Andy Burnham’s Cabinet on Tuesday with the call for the first ever legal duty on government to offer young people support.

Mr Milburn told the BBC in an interview to be broadcast on Sunday there should be a permanent “opportunity guarantee” for young people. He said: "It should be a guarantee for a young person. Because at the moment the only guarantee they've got is a very simple thing. To get a benefit. What sort of life is that?”

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There is already a guarantee in place for youngsters for apprenticeships or training places — but only after they have been unemployed for a significant period of 18 months. The former Cabinet minister said all previous support schemes had been temporary, adding: “Unsurprisingly the Neet rate in our country has barely been below 10% in 25 years.

“One of the reasons is we’ve never had the permanence and the entitlements to say to a young person if you put in effort we will guarantee you and opportunity, an apprenticeship, a pre-apprenticeship, a college place, a job, and we’ll give you the support you need to get there. So mental health support, some job coaching.”

But he also warned his call for a legal duty on the government would be a “straight-forward deal” for young people in Britain. He said: “If there’s more opportunities for young people there’s got to be more obligations on their part to take up that opportunity. What we can’t have is a generation living on benefits.

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