A life on benefits can’t be the future we aspire to for future generations. Here’s how to change it, writes former Health Secretary ALAN MILBURN

Kids don’t leave school to go to work, and we’re all doomed to think this is normal.

One million young Britons are not working, studying or studying. How did we let this happen and what does it mean for your child?

Something has gone terribly wrong with how prepared Britain’s young people are for the world of work. Not their ambition or talent. It’s not their willingness, it’s their readiness.

And where many people get stuck is the gap between school and work.

Almost a million young people are not in education, employment or training; it’s called NEET. That’s one in eight people aged 16 to 24. More than half did not work even a day.

This is no small policy issue. This is your neighbor’s child, your child’s friend. This is a national crisis.

Six out of ten people are not even considered unemployed; They are classified as economically inactive. They don’t work, they don’t study and most importantly they don’t even look.

NEET numbers have been rising for years due to poor health and disability. Nearly half now report having a health condition (mostly mental health or autism), and in just six years young people’s claims for health and disability benefits have nearly doubled.

This should set alarm bells ringing in every home in the country. A life based on benefits cannot be the future we desire for this generation or future generations.

But many young people are heading down a ladder that starts with poor education, ends in poor mental health and is parked on benefits before adult life even begins. No parent dreams this for their child.

We need to turn this situation around, and the interim report of the review I am leading on behalf of the Government, which will be published next week, aims to do just that.

Part of the answer lies in something that is quietly lost: the first job.

Most parents reading this will remember theirs. Mine was delivering newspapers in the west end of Newcastle.

I learned more from this than any other subject in school; the importance of showing up and continuing to do so, even if you don’t feel like it.

These first experiences used to be a rite of passage. Saturday chores. Summer work. The first available payment packages in brown envelopes. The first taste of independence and pride. But today, entry-level roles are disappearing. Retail jobs, the biggest source of employment for Britain’s young people, have been falling for a decade.

When you walk into a supermarket, you’re more likely to scan your own shopping rather than talk to the cashier. Ordering food means scanning a QR code or using an app rather than talking to the waiter.

Offices recruiting school leavers are using AI to perform basic administration, customer service and even recruitment screening.

Jobs that give young people the first step on the career ladder are disappearing. This makes the crisis not only urgent but also accelerating.

More young adults are now arriving as 18-year-olds who have never worked, have no references, and have no idea how a business works.

And schools don’t help. Only one in five teachers think that a system that relies heavily on exams and academic rigor prepares students for the next stage.

Former health secretary Alan Milburn is leading a review into rising numbers of NEETs

For many schools, organizing work experience is often an afterthought. Last year, six out of ten young people had no work experience. Employers and schools seem to operate in parallel universes.

How can we expect our young people to do a job when they are not given the opportunity to see how the job actually works? How to talk to someone face to face, how to pick up the phone, how to deal with pushback, and how to move on.

These are the basics of getting and keeping a job. And many young people reach adulthood without them.

Only three percent of employers say literacy or numeracy is a problem. They point to something more fundamental: communication and collaboration skills, agility and adaptability.

We are quick to judge ‘Gen Z’ people who say they are glued to their phones, caught up in algorithms, or taken over by the ‘manosphere’. It’s easy to brand them all as lazy. Easy and wrong.

I spent the last few months talking to them and heard a very different story. As the young man in Newcastle told me he was applying for hundreds of jobs every day and getting no response, let alone offers.

When this happens, children begin to doubt themselves and lose self-confidence.

Despite this, almost a third of NEETs apply for jobs they do not want. One in five people apply every day. This is not apathy. This is an effort. This young generation did not choose to experience the pandemic isolated from school and friends.

They did not design an outdated system in which schools and employers operate. They didn’t cut Saturday work. But they are the ones paying the price.

And all this while the jobs that keep the country afloat are crying out for skilled people like engineers, electricians, maintenance workers.

For years, businesses have been able to recruit ready-trained personnel from abroad instead of investing domestically. As immigration levels fall, this easy solution disappears and we now face major skills gaps.

But Britain’s bosses cannot back down; If you want to create young people who are ready to work, you must help create them. Support them and invest in them.

Classroom confidence only becomes workplace confidence when young people are given a place to practice it. Work experience. Supported internships Apprenticeships. A chance to get on the first rung of the business ladder. The good news from my numerous conversations with employers is that they are aware of this and want to do something about it.

The task of the state (government and public services) is to make it as easy as possible to recruit, support and train more young people. That system is currently not working.

The school records absences. Instead of helping people get into work, the NHS is putting them out of work. The business center processes the request.

We created a labyrinth of services around these young people, turning each of them into someone else’s responsibility in some way. And in the gaps between them, a young man disappears.

Mr Milburn (right) with Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden (centre) visiting a boxing gym for the launch of the Milburn Review in December

So the risk is a lost generation stuck in the dumps when they need more opportunities to learn or earn.

We’ve been here before.

When I think back to that newspaper scene growing up in Newcastle in the seventies, I always remember families who didn’t have much but had a purpose. They had work to do.

I watched that world collapse. The pits are closed. The shipyards fell silent. Entire communities were wiped out. The government did not invest in them, retrain them or build a future for them.

He quietly shifted them to disability benefits, closed the door, and told himself the problem was solved. It didn’t happen. The consequences lasted for decades.

We can’t afford to make the same mistake again.

The government has already announced new measures, including new incentives for firms to hire young people, changes to apprenticeships and school curricula, and investment in youth services.

These are welcome. But they won’t be enough on their own.

Solving the NEET crisis means resetting the system that is supposed to move young people from education to the world of work.

My review will not shy away from confronting uncomfortable truths about welfare, public services, employment practices or education. Schools need to do more to connect young people with the real world of work. Career counseling should start earlier.

Work experience should still have meaning. Employers need to step up. And the health and welfare system should support work, not discourage it.

If we don’t act now, the cost will be huge.

Not just in terms of lost benefits and taxes, but more importantly, because millions of young lives are being wasted before they’ve even properly begun.

Alan Milburn is a former Health Secretary who led an independent review into young people and work.