Young people to lose benefits if they decline work, says minister

Young people will be stripped of their right to claim benefits if they refuse a taxpayer-funded job after 18 months without a job, the work and pensions secretary says.

Pat McFadden told the BBC they would need a “good reason” to decline one of the 55,000 six-month placements, to be rolled out from next April.

The government has announced the roles could span areas including construction and hospitality – although companies taking part are yet to be confirmed.

McFadden’s Conservative counterpart Helen Whately said the scheme showed that Labour had “no plan for growth, no plan to create real jobs”.

The placements will begin to be rolled out in six parts of the UK with high youth unemployment from spring 2026, it has been confirmed, following the initial announcement of the scheme in September.

The six-month roles will be “fully subsidised” for 25 hours a week, paid at the legal minimum wage from an £820m pot announced at the Budget, allocated until 2029, which will also fund training and work support.

The placements will be offered to 18- to-21-year-olds on universal credit who have been looking for work for 18 months.

Employers taking part in the scheme are yet to be announced, but ministers have said new opportunities will be created in sectors including construction, health and social care and hospitality.

In total, the government plans to create 350,000 training and work experience placements.

On BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg McFadden was pressed for more detail on what might count as a good reason to decline a role.

He said this could include where a “family emergency” prevented them from making an appointment.

McFadden added: “This is an offer on one hand, but it’s an expectation on the other. Because the future we don’t want for young people is to be sitting at home on benefits, when there are other options out there.”

The number of 16-24-year-olds not in employment, education or training – known as Neets – has been trending upwards since 2021, with the latest figures showing nearly a million young people are now not earning or learning.

It said that the government-backed jobs will not necessarily be in the same sectors, but that they would be in the following regions:

• Birmingham and Solihull
• the East Midlands
• Greater Manchester
• Hertfordshire and Essex
• Central and eastern Scotland
• South-west and south-eastern Wales

The government says that 900,000 young people in total who are on Universal Credit and are looking for work will be given a “dedicated work support session”, followed by four additional weeks of “intensive support”.

An employment coach will then refer them to one of six pathways: work, work experience, apprenticeship, wider training, learning, or a workplace training programme with a guaranteed interview.

The government expects more than 1,000 young people to start a job in the first six months of the scheme.

Shadow work and pensions secretary Whately criticised other measures announced in the Budget, saying: “The chancellor’s tax hikes are driving up youth unemployment, snatching a career from a generation of young people.”

She added: “This scheme is nothing more than taking with one hand to give with the other.”

Further plans are expected to be set out in the coming week as the government prepares to publish its national youth strategy.

Chancellor Rachel Reeves previously announced that the government would be funding a scheme to make apprenticeship training for under-25s at small and medium businesses “completely free”.

There were 946,000 young people who were Neet in the UK in the three months to September – equivalent to 12.7% of all people aged 16-24.

A quarter cite long-term sickness or disability as a barrier to work or education, while the number claiming health and disability benefits is also on the rise.

The government announced last month that it was launching an independent review into the rising number of young people not working or studying.