Young people who have been out of a job or education for 18 months will be offered a guaranteed paid work placement in a new government scheme.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves is set to announce the plans today (29 September) at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool.
A Youth Guarantee was announced last year as part of the Get Britain Working White Paper, which guarantees access to apprenticeships, training or education opportunities for 18- to 21-year-olds.
The new initiative will see every young person who has been on Universal Credit for 18 months without “earning or learning” offered a guaranteed paid work placement. If the placement is refused, the young person could risk losing their benefits.
The scheme has not been formally announced yet, so no businesses have signed up, but Reeves said several business organisations are in support of the initiative.
Full details of the scheme will be set out in the Autumn budget in November.
According to the Office for National Statistics, there were 948,000 young people not in education, work or training (Neet) in the three months between April and June 2025.
In her speech to conference, Reeves will say: “I will never be satisfied while too many people’s potential is wasted, frozen out of employment, education, or training. There’s no defending it.
“It’s bad for business, bad for taxpayers, bad for our economy, and it scars people’s prospects throughout their lives.
“Just as the last Labour government, with its new deal for young people, abolished long-term youth unemployment, I can commit this government to nothing less than the abolition of long-term youth unemployment.”
Tina McKenzie, policy chair at the Federation of Small Businesses, welcomed the scheme.
“Reprioritising spending from employment programmes which aren’t working to this type of scheme is exactly the way to get much-needed bang for taxpayer cash,” she said.
“Key to getting the details right is making sure there is a backstop offer to those who are now over-25, particularly those with health challenges; that young people out of work for health reasons are not excluded through misguided double funding rules; and that small businesses are enabled to play a full role in the delivery of the scheme.”
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