YOUNG workers will be thrown off benefits if they refuse to go on a government-run six-month ‘work placement’ scheme, Labour Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden said yesterday morning.
Touring the media studios McFadden snarled that they would need a ‘good reason’ to decline one of the 55,000 six-month placements, to be rolled out from next April.
He said the schemes would include ‘construction and hospitality’ – although companies taking part are yet to be confirmed.
The placements will begin to be rolled out in six parts of the UK from spring 2026.
The six-month roles will be ‘fully subsidised’ for 25 hours a week, paid at the legal minimum wage from an £820 million pot announced at the budget, allocated until 2029, which will also fund training and work support.
Initial targets for the forced and cheap labour placements are 18- to-21-year-olds on Universal Credit who have been out of work for 18 months.
Employers taking part in the scheme are yet to be announced, but Labour ministers say: ‘New opportunities will be created in sectors including construction, health and social care and hospitality.
‘In total, the government plans to create 350,000 training and work experience placements.’
On the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg McFadden was pressed for more detail on what might count as a good reason to decline a role.
He said this could include where a ‘family emergency’ prevented them from making an appointment.
McFadden added: ‘This is an offer on one hand, but it’s an expectation on the other. Because the future we don’t want for young people is to be sitting at home on benefits, when there are other options out there.’
The Labour government disparagingly describes 16-24-year-olds ‘not in employment, education or training’ as ‘NEETS’ and claims that ‘the latest figures show nearly a million young people are now not earning or learning’. It said that initial target areas will be in the following regions:
- Birmingham and Solihull
- The East Midlands
- Greater Manchester
- Hertfordshire and Essex
- Central and east Scotland
- South-west and south-eastern Wales
It said that 900,000 young people in total who are on Universal Credit will be given a ‘dedicated work support session’, followed by four additional weeks of ‘intensive support’.
‘An employment coach will then refer them to one of six pathways: work, work experience, apprenticeship, wider training, learning, or a workplace training programme with a guaranteed interview.’
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