Parents on benefits could receive cash top-ups to encourage their unemployed teenagers to sign up for apprenticeships, as part of plans to tackle the UK's worklessness epidemic. Ministers are considering bursaries for families with 16- and 17-year-olds to offset the drop in welfare payments—sometimes hundreds of pounds a week—that occurs when young people start work.
Review of youth unemployment
The proposal is part of a range of ideas being explored alongside a major review of youth unemployment by former minister Alan Milburn this week. The former Labour Cabinet minister said the state has failed young people in a 'shameful' way by 'transporting them into the world of benefits' rather than helping them find work.
Recent figures show almost a million people aged 16 to 24 in the UK were classified as not in education, employment or training (NEET) from October to December 2025.
Financial deterrent
The drop in benefit payments was highlighted last month by the Social Security Advisory Committee, which described it as 'a financial deterrent for young people from families on benefits pursuing apprenticeships'. The committee warned that when a young person leaves full-time education to start an apprenticeship, families can face 'substantial losses' of welfare payments that 'can reach levels that no realistic apprenticeship wage can offset'.
Work experience placements
Ministers are also set to announce plans for 300,000 extra work experience placements over the next three years. Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden has said the impact of youth unemployment could scar people for the rest of their lives.
According to The Guardian, around half of the extra 300,000 work placements will be Sector-based Work Academy Programmes (SWAPs), which last up to six weeks and provide a guaranteed job interview or help with the employer's application process.
Analysis by the Department for Work and Pensions suggests young people who complete a SWAP placement are 13 per cent more likely to be in work two years later than counterparts who did not, with four in ten in sustained employment within six months.
Criticism of the system
Yesterday, Mr Milburn told the BBC: 'For every £25 that we spend keeping young people on benefits, we spend only £1 helping them get into work through employment support.' He added: 'This is a failure of the welfare system, but it's a failure – I'm sorry – of the school system, the skills system, the health system.'
A DWP spokeswoman said: 'We are determined to reverse the 40% drop in young people starting apprenticeships over the last decade. To give every young person the best start in their career, we are investing £2.5 billion to tackle youth unemployment, and creating 50,000 additional apprenticeships for young people.'
