Milburn review to urge job creation for young people with disabilities
A UK government-commissioned review of youth employment by former Labour cabinet minister Alan Milburn will recommend the state create and subsidise paid jobs for thousands of disabled young people. The report is due this month.
The British state should create and subsidise paid jobs for thousands of disabled young people, according to a review of youth employment led by Alan Milburn, a former Labour cabinet minister. The report is due to be published this month. It aims to reverse years of labour market discrimination against young people with disabilities or chronic illness.
The numbers
About a million young people in the UK are classed as "Neet", meaning they are not in education, employment or training. Nearly half of them (45%) are disabled or in ill health. Disabled young people are three times as likely to be Neet as their non-disabled peers.
The most common conditions reported by disabled Neets are depression, bad nerves or anxiety (23.8%), autism (22.7%) and other health problems or disabilities (18.5%). Nearly half of 24-year-old Neets have never worked.
Recommendations
The review will propose that 16- to 24-year-olds be offered a Danish-style "flexi-job" scheme. It guarantees employment and lets participants set their own hours, in some cases starting at four a week, with wages topped up by the government. It will also back "job carving": splitting one entry-level role, such as a retail post, into three separate jobs covering stock-filling, till work and locking up.
Large employers will be urged to adopt voluntary employment targets for disabled young people, though statutory quotas are not expected. The review also calls for more support, including supported internships, placements, specialist job matching, coaching, and help for employers to make workplace adjustments.
Funding and possible pushback
Milburn has suggested switching part of the £4bn a year spent on disability benefits for young people into employment and training support. The government has said it will not endorse "crude cuts" to benefits. Campaigners and possibly some Labour backbench MPs may object, arguing that job support should not be paid for by benefit cuts.
Milburn has warned that failing to tackle youth disengagement from work risks creating a "lost generation".
