The British government will expand a scheme guaranteeing jobs to young people and roll it out nationwide, in its latest attempt to tackle youth unemployment.
The Department for Work and Pensions said on Saturday that a trial programme offering guaranteed jobs to every eligible 18 to 24-year-old on Universal Credit would be extended across Britain from the end of November, helping more than 90,000 young people.
The programme offers 25 hours a week of paid work for six months, funded by the government. It will now be available in all areas of England, Scotland and Wales.
From April, the scheme will also be extended to support those who have been on Universal Credit for 12 months, down from the current 18-month threshold.
The move comes as youth inactivity remains stubbornly high. Britain had 981,000 people aged 16 to 24 not in employment, education or training in the second quarter of this year, accounting for 13 per cent of the age group.
Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden said the government was acting because long spells out of work early in life can scar a person’s prospects for years.
“The longer someone is out of work, the harder it is to get back in, and no young person should be left waiting on a scrapheap for an opportunity,” he said.
The announcement comes ahead of a report next week by former minister Alan Milburn, a Labour ally of Prime Minister Andy Burnham, which will set out the causes of rising youth inactivity and recommend ways of helping more young people into work.
The government has framed the jobs guarantee as a central plank of its efforts to cut the number of young people outside work and training, though the scale of the challenge remains considerable: even if the scheme reaches its target of 90,000 young people, that would cover less than a tenth of those currently not in employment, education or training.
Sources: Reuters — “UK to expand jobs guarantee scheme for young people” (https://www.reuters.com/world/uk/uk-expand-jobs-guarantee-scheme-young-people-2026-11-14/)
