New Youth Jobs Grant to Tackle NEET Crisis
I am welcoming a major youth employment drive backed by £1 billion from the Labour government to help create 200,000 jobs for young people, alongside the biggest transformation of apprenticeships in a decade.
These measures will help tackle the fall in apprenticeships starts among young people - down 40% in the last decade, and address the rising number of young people not earning or learning. This is not a new problem but one this government inherited - with a rise of 248,000 NEETs between 2021 and 2024 and almost a million NEETs across the UK today.
It is the latest step in the Government’s commitment to ensuring every young person aged 16-24 has the opportunity to earn or learn.
The package is funded by an additional £1 billion, taking the total investment into the Youth Guarantee and the Growth and Skills Levy to £2.5 billion over the next three years. This will support almost one million young people and help deliver up to 500,000 opportunities to earn and learn.
Details of the measures include:
A new Youth Jobs Grant from June 2026, through which businesses will receive £3,000 for every young person they hire aged 18-24 who has been on Universal Credit and looking for work for six months. This is expected to support 60,000 young people over three years.
Also from June, expansion of the Jobs Guarantee to a wider age range, from 18-21 to 18-24, to create more than 35,000 extra subsidised jobs. This brings the total to be supported through the scheme to over 90,000 in the next three years.
An Apprenticeship Incentive of £2,000 for each new employee aged 16-24 taken on by an SME. As part of wider reforms, this will drive progress to our target of creating 50,000 more apprenticeships.
Further reforms to the Growth and Skills Levy to prioritise young apprentices, secure value for money and give school and college leavers more opportunities than ever to build careers in cutting edge industries.
