Andy Burnham is facing a brewing Labour revolt over proposals to strip young people of the main sickness and disability benefits.
A Government review is set to call for under-25s to be barred from the health element of universal credit and personal independence payments.
Alan Milburn is making the suggestion in a bid to cut the number of ‘NEETs’ – young people not in education, employment or training. Nearly a million are currently in the category, with devastating effects on their life chances.
However, all the savings from the move would go towards an immediate drive to get youths back into the workforce. That could mean taxpayers spending an extra £6billion a year in the short term.
The idea of taking away benefits is already causing disquiet among Labour MPs, who killed off a previous attempt to curb welfare spending under Keir Starmer.
The Greens have condemned the suggestion as ‘cruel’.
Alan Milburn is making the suggestion in a bid to cut the number of ‘NEETs’ – young people not in education, employment or training. Mr Miliburn is pictured with Andy Burnham
The Government plans to bring forward major welfare reforms in 2027 amid efforts to reduce the number of NEETs
Mr Miliburn – whose review will be launched on Tuesday – told the Times today that changes to how out-of-work young people are treated will not be ‘pain-free’.
Instead of the health element of UC and Pip under-25s would get a new youth allowance paid at the standard rate of UC.
The Labour former health secretary said he would set out a ‘big rewriting of the welfare system’ next week, with more money spent on employment support, when he publishes the second part of his review, commissioned by former prime minister Sir Keir Starmer.
‘I’m not saying that any of this will be easy or that it will be pain-free because it won’t,’ Mr Milburn told the paper.
‘You know, candidly, it could mean that some people will get less financial support at the beginning of their benefit claim than under the current system.’
The Government plans to bring forward major welfare reforms in 2027 amid efforts to reduce the number of NEETs. The proportion who are classed as disabled has increased sharply over recent years.
Mr Burnham has said an overhaul to the benefits system will require the Government to ‘invest up front in young people’.
The Tories have been demanding cuts to benefits, warning the country cannot afford the levels of welfare.
Under Mr Milburn’s plans, employment support would be expanded.
‘The menu of opportunities has got to increase,’ he said.
‘They’ll have a personal adviser, they’ll be coached all the way through. The adviser will stick with them until they have found a job or an apprenticeship or college place.’
Many people receiving Pip will be moved on to a new benefit called the ‘additional cost allowance’ to help with costs relating to their disability.
Those with disabilities that mean they can never be expected to work would be given a new benefit targeted to a smaller cohort.
Labour MP Bell Ribeiro-Addy – a key figure in the previous benefits rebellion – told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that the Government should be waiting for a separate review into Pip by Work and Pensions minister Stephen Timms.
‘I just don’t think you get a disabled young person into work by taking away the money that helps them to get into work,’ she said.
‘This report was meant to be all about young people out of work, you know the NEETs as we call them. But the cuts seem to land on disabled people and many of them are in college already, or already in work.
‘So I don’t see how you fix the first by punishing the second.’
She added: ‘Again we are going for Pip which isn’t necessarily an out of work benefit. It pays the extra costs of being disabled, like getting to work, getting to appointments, living independently. Surely if we take it away it gets harder for people not easier.’
Ms Ribeiro-Addy said she was also worried about the ‘focus on age’.
‘I don’t think a disability cares how old you are,’ she said.
‘I think some people would be concerned that the suggestion is we apply it to existing claimants.
‘Because if you remember one of the things that we did last summer when all of that erupted on the floor of the House, is we protected existing claimants.
‘The Government gave its word… the worry is that this plan might rip up that promise for a whole generation of disabled young people.’
Ms Ribeiro-Addy added: ‘I’m not sure I could vote for cuts unless it’s very clear what we are voting on.’
Fellow Labour MP Rachael Maskell said she was waiting to see the full detail of the report.
‘If you take away support to help someone get to work or college, then surely that will increase unemployment,’ she told the Daily Mail.
Touring broadcast studios for the Government this morning, housing minister Matthew Pennycook said there must be a ‘new settlement for young people’.
‘We’ve got to invest in their futures rather than paying for failure; at the moment we are paying for failure…’ he said.
‘People who genuinely can’t work, who are vulnerable, will get the support they need. There will always be that safety net.
‘But we need a new settlement for young people.’
