Overview
- Funding covers 350,000 training and work‑experience placements in construction, hospitality, and health and social care, plus a dedicated session and four weeks of intensive support for about 900,000 Universal Credit claimants routed into six pathways.
- From spring 2026, up to 55,000 six‑month, fully subsidised jobs paid at the minimum wage will be targeted to Birmingham and Solihull, the East Midlands, Greater Manchester, Hertfordshire and Essex, central and eastern Scotland, and south‑west and south‑east Wales.
- Eligibility for the guaranteed roles focuses on 18–21‑year‑olds on Universal Credit who have been looking for work for 18 months, with placements set at 25 hours per week.
- The DWP said young people who refuse offers or do not engage without a “good reason” could face benefit cuts, presenting the initiative as both an offer and an obligation.
- Youth Hubs will expand to every local area and £34m will fund a Risk of NEET indicator and pilots for automatic further‑education enrolment, as critics warn about job quality, protections for disabled young people, and NEET numbers nearing one million.