Key facts
- Pat McFadden told the BBC job support should have a legislative underpinning and the offer was vague.
- McFadden said some claimants would get less than their current entitlement when reassessed.
- Helen Whately said a legal guarantee of support does not make sense and called for lower employer taxes.
- Alan Milburn's review, due Tuesday, is expected to recommend guaranteed job placements or training for under-25s.
- The review is expected to propose barring under-25s from the health element of universal credit and PIP.
- The government will widen its youth jobs scheme from next April, offering roles after 12 months of job search instead of 18.
UK work and pensions secretary Pat McFadden said on November 15, 2026 that the government should give its offer of help for young people looking for work a legal underpinning. Speaking to the BBC's Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg program, McFadden said the level of assistance on offer was vague and that people needed more certainty about what they were entitled to.
McFadden also said some current benefit claimants would see their entitlement reduced when they are reassessed, while others, such as those with long-term disabilities, would receive an increased amount. His comments came ahead of a review by former Labour cabinet minister Alan Milburn, due to be published on Tuesday, which is expected to recommend that under-25s be guaranteed job placements or training.
The review is expected to propose that under-25s no longer be able to claim the health element of UK-wide universal credit or personal independence payment, the main disability benefit in England and Wales. Some could qualify for a new additional cost allowance covering day-to-day costs linked to health conditions. Milburn has presented the change as a way to free up funding for more support for the unemployed.
Milburn told the program there should be a new duty on government to provide opportunities including apprenticeships, college places, job coaching or a job, alongside more obligations on young people to take them up. Shadow work and pensions secretary Helen Whately said her Conservative Party backed reducing welfare spending but argued a legal guarantee of support does not make sense. She said ministers should cut taxes and regulations on employers instead, calling it absurd to raise employer taxes to subsidize things that look like jobs.
The government also announced it will widen eligibility for its scheme offering jobless under-25s subsidized six-month roles at the minimum wage. From next April, eligible claimants will be offered a role after 12 months of unsuccessful job searching rather than 18. It is the second widening of the scheme, after the maximum age rose to 24 from 21 earlier in 2026.