Overview
- The government set out an £820m package to move nearly one million young Universal Credit claimants into work, including funding for 350,000 training and work-experience placements in construction, hospitality, and health and social care.
- Up to 55,000 government‑backed jobs will be guaranteed from spring 2026 in high‑need regions such as Birmingham and Solihull, the East Midlands, Greater Manchester, Hertfordshire and Essex, central and eastern Scotland, and south‑west and south‑eastern Wales.
- Around 900,000 claimants will receive a dedicated work support session followed by four weeks of intensive help leading to one of six pathways, including jobs, apprenticeships, wider training, learning, or workplace training with a guaranteed interview.
- Ministers confirmed benefits can be cut for those who refuse to engage with offers of support or placements without good reason, describing the plan as both an offer and an obligation.
- Delivery includes expanding Youth Hubs to more than 360 locations, piloting a Risk of NEET indicator and automatic enrolment in further education, and commissioning Alan Milburn’s review as critics question job quality, employer participation and long‑term outcomes.