A government youth jobs scheme is set to widen to cover under-25s who have been on benefits for a year, as ministers respond to a rise in the number of young people not in education, employment or training. Under the new plans, every eligible 18 to 24-year-old is to be guaranteed a fully-funded, six-month job matched to their skills after 12 months on universal credit, down from the current 18 months, the Department for Work and Pensions said. The scheme will be rolled out nationwide from the end of November, with the Government funding up to 25 hours of paid work a week at the relevant minimum wage, and the shorter waiting period will take effect in April next year.

The expansion comes ahead of a major report on youth unemployment by Alan Milburn, the former Labour health secretary, which is due to be published on Tuesday. Milburn told the BBC that the government should have a legal duty to ensure young people have access to training, work or employment support, similar to the responsibilities councils hold towards homeless people and children in care. The DWP's existing scheme is called the jobs guarantee but carries no such legal duty, and officials say its funding comes from the Government's wider £2.5 billion employment support package. Milburn's recommendations are aimed at curbing the number of Neets, which topped a million earlier this year for the first time in more than a decade.S1S2

Milburn is expected to call for under-25s to no longer be able to claim the health element of universal credit or personal independence payments, moving them instead onto a youth allowance paid at the same level as the standard rate of universal credit. Some Labour MPs, who last year pressured Sir Keir Starmer's government to water down proposed welfare cuts, have voiced concern about the extent of future support after Milburn suggested some could receive fewer benefits. Andy Burnham has described the report as a watershed moment but has stopped short of committing to implementing its recommendations in full. The Prime Minister has insisted that paying for the reforms would mean spending differently rather than spending more money.S1S2

Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden said the longer someone is out of work, the harder it is to get back in, and that no young person should be left waiting for an opportunity. He also said his department had signed a deal with the Tourism Alliance, the trade body for the UK visitor economy, aimed at creating 50,000 jobs for Neets in this Parliament, with work experience as a route into those jobs.S1S2