CSJ Warning on Youth Worklessness
New analysis from the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) reveals that nearly 40,000 children born in 2014 and 2015 are set to end up on Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) benefits. This equates to almost four children in every Year 6 classroom, up from an average of three over the past five years. The findings will be presented to former Labour cabinet minister Alan Milburn at a Monday event focused on helping young people not in education, employment, or training (NEET).
Scope of the Problem
Currently, over 100,000 young people aged 21 are on Universal Credit and out of work. The CSJ warns that those who fall behind in primary school risk landing on a “conveyor belt” to worklessness. In the 2024/25 academic year, one in five Year 6 pupils failed to meet expected reading standards. The think tank estimates that almost 40,000 of these children will spend at least 12 consecutive months NEET in early adulthood.
Call for Action
Dan Lilley, Head of Youth at the CSJ, stated: “It’s time to jam the conveyor belt sending young people straight from school onto out of work benefits. No child should be doomed to a life on the margins.” He called for an end to the “obsession with university,” expansion of technical education similar to the Netherlands, and a rewiring of education incentives to improve employment outcomes for school-leavers.
Government Review
Alan Milburn is leading a Labour Party government review into Britain’s youth unemployment crisis. His interim review, published last month, criticised a “record of failure” that has left over one million young people out of work, with the annual cost of the crisis exceeding £125 billion.
