The Department for Work and Pensions has appointed former health secretary Alan Milburn to launch an independent investigation into rising numbers of young people not in education, employment or training.
DWP said the review will be “uncompromising” in exposing failures in employment support, education, skills, health and welfare and will produce far-reaching recommendations for change to enhance opportunities for young people to learn and earn.
According to the department, nearly one in eight 16-24-year-olds is classified as “NEET” because they are neither working nor studying.
It said that more than 25% of NEETs now cite long-term sickness or disability as a barrier to participation, compared to just 12% in 2013-14, while the number of young people claiming universal credit health and employment-support allowance has risen by more than 50% in the last five years.
Milburn was a member of Barnsley Council's Pathways to Work Commission, which recently looked at inactivity levels in the borough and paved the way for a DWP “trailblazer” for the whole of South Yorkshire that launched in the spring.
Work and pensions secretary Pat McFadden said Milburn’s investigation will look at how to get young people off benefits and into work, helping to cut the long-term costs of youth inactivity and make the social security system more sustainable.
“The rising number of young people who are not in education, employment or training is a crisis of opportunity that demands more action to give them the chance to learn or earn,” he said.
“We cannot afford to lose a generation of young people to a life on benefits, with no work prospects and not enough hope.
“I am determined to build a system that supports young people, not just in finding a job, but to build a better future – because when young people succeed, Britain succeeds.
“If we get this right, the prize is huge – transforming lives and life chances, with the pent-up potential of the next generation firing our economy and building a better future for all.”
Milburn, who was health secretary from October 1999 to June 2003 under Tony Blair's premiership, said the NEETs situation required proactive new approaches.
“We cannot stand by and let a generation of young people be consigned to a life without employment or prospects. It’s clear urgent action is needed,” he said.
“That’s why with the help of a panel of expert advisers, I will aim to get to the bottom of why current efforts are not preventing young people from becoming trapped out of work and education.”
Milburn and his panel are tasked with analysing the reasons behind rising youth economic inactivity; reviewing current outcomes and identifying barriers that prevent engagement; examining how young people interact with health and disability welfare, skills and how employment systems interact; and recommending reforms to improve opportunities for young people.
Interim findings will be shared with the government in the spring and a final report is expected to be published in the summer.