Young people with disabilities to get state-funded jobs at Boots and John Lewis

Thousands of young people with physical and mental health conditions, as well as learning disabilities, will be offered taxpayer-funded jobs by the Government in an expansion of a scheme aimed at getting people off benefits and supporting them into work, The i Paper can reveal. The move to “fast track” employment support for young people claiming disability benefits is set to be announced by work and pensions secretary Pat McFadden at Labour’s annual conference next week, as part of the Government’s £2.5bn drive to tackle youth unemployment. Earlier this year, Labour’s youth unemployment tsar Alan Milburn’s interim report found that nearly half of 16- 24-year-olds who are NEET – not in education, employment or training- in the UK (45 per cent) report having a disability. Shorts This figure has more than doubled from 21 per cent in 2013/14. According to Milburn’s report, the most common conditions among young NEETs are mental health issues such as depression and anxiety, but there has also been a major uptick in the number reporting learning disabilities and autism, as well as physical conditions which present barriers to work. Taking heed of these findings, McFadden is set to expand the Government’s Jobs Guarantee scheme from next April, specifically to target young people claiming health and disability benefits such as Personal Independence Payments (PIP). Young people with disabilities will be given the chance to voluntarily join the scheme, without the risk of losing their benefits. Under the wider scheme, benefits can be sanctioned if people turn down placements. Jobs and support will also be tailored towards claimants’ conditions. The Government has already introduced the “Right to Try” initiative, which enables those on sickness benefits to trial work without being at immediate risk of losing their benefits if the role doesn’t work out, in a bid to tackle reluctance to re-enter employment. The Jobs Guarantee scheme aims to create 90,000 fully-funded jobs for long-term unemployed young people by 2029. However, after the six-month placements at major employers like Boots and John Lewis are over, there is no guarantee of further employment. Speaking about the expansion, McFadden said it would help “fast track” support to disabled people in long-term unemployment. He said: “I’ve seen how the Jobs Guarantee is already changing lives, and now we are putting long-term sick and disabled people at the front of the queue. “For many young people, this will be the first chance they’ve had of a real paid job, and the dignity and self-respect that comes with that.” The announcement also hints at the direction of travel for incoming recommendations from Milburn, who is due to publish his full report on the NEETs crisis later this autumn. Both Milburn and McFadden have visited the Netherlands over the summer, which has the lowest youth economic inactivity (NEET) rate in Europe and is seen as a blueprint for where Britain heads next. The UK’s NEET rate is currently 13.6 per cent, while the Dutch figure is less than half that at 4.8 per cent. The Jobs Guarantee is similar to Dutch initiatives which see the government subsidise wages for young people to give employers the support and confidence to take them on. During his trip to understand the Dutch model, McFadden told The i Paper he was struck by how difficult it was for young people to be “signed off and written off”. The number of Neets has soared in the UK since the Covid-19 pandemic and surpassed one million for the first time since 2014 earlier this year. According to Milburn, almost half (38 per cent) of people first claiming a health and disability benefit as a young person are not in education or employment 15 years later because they become “locked out” of work. Jon Sparkes OBE, chief executive of learning disabilities charity Mencap, told The i Paper expanding the Jobs Guarantee scheme was “welcome news”. He said: “Young people with a learning disability are disproportionately likely to be out of work and not in education, employment or training. Earlier access to paid work, tailored support and mentoring could help prevent them from becoming trapped in long-term unemployment.” Sparkes added that the “voluntary nature” of the scheme would “give young people with a learning disability the confidence to explore work opportunities and show what they can do, without losing the support they need”.