Young people on benefits to be offered construction and hospitality work

Young people on benefits will be offered taxpayer-funded jobs in areas such as construction and hospitality, in a bid to tackle rising youth unemployment.

The government plans to fund 55,000 six-month placements from an £820m pot announced at the Budget, which will also fund training and work support.

Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden said those who decline the job offer without a “good reason” would be stripped of their benefits.

The Conservatives said the scheme showed that Labour had “no plan for growth, no plan to create real jobs”.

The placements will begin to be rolled out in six parts of the UK with high youth unemployment from spring 2026, it has been confirmed, following the initial announcement of the scheme in September.

The six-month roles will be “fully subsidised” for 25 hours a week, paid at the legal minimum wage, and offered to 18- to-21-year-olds on universal credit who have been looking for work for 18 months.

Employers taking part in the scheme are yet to be announced, but ministers have said 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 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.

The number of 16-24-year-olds not in employment, education or training – known as Neets – has been trending upwards since 2021, with the latest figures showing nearly a million young people are now not earning or learning.

It said that the government-backed jobs will not necessarily be in the same sectors, but that they would be in the following regions:

• Birmingham and Solihull
• the East Midlands
• Greater Manchester
• Hertfordshire and Essex
• Central and eastern Scotland
• South-west and south-eastern Wales

The government says that 900,000 young people in total who are on Universal Credit and are looking for work 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.

The government expects more than 1,000 young people to start a job in the first six months of the scheme.

Shadow work and pensions secretary Helen Whately criticised other measures announced in the Budget, saying: “The Chancellor’s tax hikes are driving up youth unemployment, snatching a career from a generation of young people.”

She added: “This scheme is nothing more than taking with one hand to give with the other.”

Further plans are expected to be set out in the coming week as the government prepares to publish its national youth strategy.

Reeves previously announced that the government would be funding a scheme to make apprenticeship training for under-25s at small and medium businesses “completely free”.

There were 946,000 young people who were Neet in the UK in the three months to September – equivalent to 12.7% of all people aged 16-24.

A quarter cite long-term sickness or disability as a barrier to work or education, while the number claiming health and disability benefits is also on the rise.

The government announced last month that it was launching an independent review into the rising number of young people not working or studying.