Benefits could be withdrawn for young people not engaging with Youth Guarantee scheme

The number of 16 to 24-year-olds not in employment, education or training is now at almost a million, having risen sharply for the last four years. The government have announced an £820 million Youth Guarantee scheme to provide 350,000 work experience placements, and 55,000 subsidised jobs to young people. Work and pensions secretary Pat McFadden was interviewed this morning, saying he wanted the issue to be a major ‘Labour cause’. On Sky News, Trevor Phillips asked McFadden if those who didn’t engage with the Youth Guarantee scheme might have their Universal Credit benefits removed. McFadden said: ‘They could be… we see this as both an offer, and an obligation’. He added that the issue was an international one, and that employment ministers from other G7 countries all reported the same problem.

Are many families better off on benefits than they are working?

On GB News, Camilla Tominey said it was ‘a lie’ that Labour would cut welfare at all, telling Pat McFadden that the welfare bill is likely to go up by £70 billion this parliament. McFadden claimed Labour have made a big change to Universal Credit, narrowing the gap between ‘what you get for being declared unfit for work, and what you get when you’re fit for work’, which reduces the incentive to report longterm illness. Tominey noted that the Centre for Social Justice think tank has estimated a family with three children would have to earn £71,000 to be better off than claiming benefits. McFadden said the think tank didn’t........

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