BROKEN Britain needs to take a “tough love” approach with young people on benefits, says the government’s jobs tsar.
Ex-Labour cabinet minister Alan Milburn – who is writing a review on youth unemployment – said the state must do more to stop Gen Z being “consigned to a life on benefits”.
He says support should be geared towards a “duty to engage” and those on health and disability benefits who are capable of working, particularly those with mild ADHD and anxiety should face an “obligation” to use employment support.
Mr Milburn – who was an MP for almost two decades and served as Treasury Chief and Health Secretary – believes the UK should introduce a “backstop” like other welfare systems in Europe meaning people’s benefits will be reduced if they fail to engage.
He clarified it would be a “last resort” and not for those with severe disabilities.
The politician, 68, said it’s time to stop “pussyfooting around the issue”, describing the system currently as a “total state failure” and “morally indefensible”.
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Mr Milburn told The Times: “There’s a deal. And the deal is that as the opportunities increase, so must the obligations because otherwise we will end up with a situation where more and more young people are consigned to a life on benefits.
“And young people have an obligation to engage with that.
“And I know that sounds like tough love. But tough love is what is needed here.”
His report into the roughly one million 16 to 24 year olds out of work, education or training, which is due to be released in the coming weeks.
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The amount of unemployed young people receiving means-tested benefits without a requirement to engage with support had doubled from 2019 to 300,000 last year.
Around two-thirds who claim personal independence payments list ADHD, autism, anxiety or depression as their primary condition.
Mr Milburn referred to figures showing 84 percent of those surveyed who are not in education, work or training do want a job, adding: “It’s not that they want to be on benefits. They don’t.”
It comes after the jobs tsar branded the Benefits Fit Note system as “insane” – with youngsters able to get signed off for conditions such as ADHD after a brief consultation with a GP.
Mr Milburn made the intervention during a fact-finding mission to Holland where he was accompanied by ex-England manager Sir Gareth Southgate.
He said: “The fit note thing is just bloody insane. You get a fit note. You enter the welfare system.
“We know that once you enter the welfare system, you get a health and disability benefit.”
“The stickiness kicks in. You stand a 50 per cent chance of being on a health and disability benefit if you get it today, in 15 years’ time.
“Everybody talks about the fiscal disaster.
“Fine, but most importantly, it’s a life chances disaster because we’re ruining the life chances of these young people.”
Mr Milburn’s review forms part of the government’s aim to overhaul the Fit Note system, having launched pilot projects across the country.
The government is under huge pressure to reduce the benefits bill that is set to hit £400 billion a year by the start of the next decade.
It comes after official statistics revealed that more than 11million “fit notes” – the modern iteration of the traditional sick note – were handed out last year.
Mr Milburn has suggested jobs in hospitality for youths stuck in an “experience trap” could unlock a £3.2 billion economic boost.
Filling excess vacancies across hotels, pubs and restaurants could see 33,600 youths move into work as part of solving the inactivity crisis, according to a report from Hilton and WPI Strategy.
It says taking a so-called NEET – Not in Education, Employment or Training – into a first job generates £152,000 in economic value.
Sir Gareth, who made a BBC documentary on the struggles of young men, added that those with conditions should not be written off.
He said: “As a coach, as a parent, you are very conscious of putting a label on a young person because firstly, it can limit what they think is possible in their life. And secondly, it follows them around.
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“I’ve met lots of youngsters with ADHD, with autism, have had the opportunity to have a different way of being schooled and are really thriving.
“There are definitely so many good qualities for people with those diagnoses and we have to be very careful not to write those people off.”