Ministers face pressure over rising number of young people out of work

The number of young people not in work, education or training stayed stubbornly high at 1,012,000 in the first quarter of 2026, leaving 13.5% of UK 16- to 24-year-olds classed as NEET and putting fresh strain on Labour’s argument that tighter welfare rules will help people back into jobs.

The Office for National Statistics said the figure for January to March 2026 was up 89,000 from a year earlier, underlining the scale of the challenge ministers are trying to confront. It also warned that the data are official statistics in development, and that short-term movements should be treated cautiously because of sampling volatility.

That warning has not softened the political pressure. Labour launched what it described as the biggest shake-up of the welfare system in a generation on 18 March 2025, promising to scrap the Work Capability Assessment, introduce a “right to try” work guarantee and back the package with £1 billion of employment support. Ministers said the reforms were needed because one in eight young people were not in work, education or training, while the number of people receiving PIP and other health and disability support had risen sharply.

A year later, the government added a separate £1 billion youth employment drive aimed at helping create 200,000 jobs and apprenticeships. The package included a Youth Jobs Grant, an expanded Jobs Guarantee for 18- to 24-year-olds and £2,000 incentives for employers who take on 16- to 24-year-olds. On paper, the message was one of opportunity. In practice, it has revived an argument inside Labour about who should carry the burden of getting young people back into work or learning.

Andy Burnham has become one of the clearest voices in that dispute. In June 2025, the Greater Manchester mayor and former Labour leadership contender urged Sir Keir Starmer to pause the welfare cuts and take a “more unifying path”. He said on BBC Newsnight that the government should “get back around the table”, at a point when 123 Labour MPs had signed an amendment to block the package.

The rebellion did not disappear. BBC reported in March 2026 that Starmer was facing a growing backlash over welfare cuts, with some Labour MPs saying the plans were “impossible to support” without a change of direction. That tension now sits at the centre of Labour’s welfare debate: ministers are promising support into work, but critics warn the costs and risks are being pushed hardest onto disabled people, claimants and the communities already carrying the deepest economic scars.