Alan Milburn and Andy Burnham collaborate on NEETs and benefits
Alan Milburn is working with Andy Burnham to address the issue of one million young people not in education, employment, or training (NEETs) and to reduce the benefits bill.
The Full Story
A plain summary built from the channels that reported this story.
Alan Milburn, the former Labour health secretary tasked by Prime Minister Keir Starmer with tackling the crisis of a million young people not in education, employment or training (NEETs), is now working closely with Andy Burnham, the expected successor to Starmer. The collaboration was revealed in a report by Channel 4 News, which followed Milburn as he visited a college in Liverpool to examine solutions.
Milburn described the situation as a "national crisis" and said the problem is not a shortage of effort among young people but a "shortage of opportunity and support." He is focusing on reducing the benefits bill, which he said is rising at an exponential rate, but argued that the only sustainable way to cut welfare spending is to get more young people into work. He pointed out that for every 25 pounds spent on benefits for young people, only one pound is spent on employment support, even though most young people on disability or health benefits want to work.
Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, has been pushing place-based policies and parity between academic and technical education. He said devolution and decentralisation in the Liverpool city region have shown that a non-punitive, wraparound support approach can reduce the welfare bill. Burnham contrasted this with the sanctions-first approach used by Westminster.
The report highlighted a college in Liverpool where a third of 16 to 18 year olds attend, with many courses focused on trades and technical skills. Students expressed concerns about the jobs market, saying employers are reluctant to give new joiners or plasterers experience. Milburn acknowledged there is no "silver bullet" but said the final report of his work, due later this year, will aim to reverse the trend of young people being "consigned to the scrap heap."
The political context is shifting: Starmer is preparing to leave office, and Burnham is expected to take over. The collaboration between Milburn and Burnham signals a potential shift in approach to youth unemployment and welfare reform, moving away from arbitrary cuts toward investment in opportunities and support.
On screen
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Key Claims
Claims reported during this story's coverage, mapped by channel. Ordered by how many channels carried each claim.
| Claim | Channel 4 |
|---|---|
| A million young people in the UK are not in education, employment or training (NEETs). | |
| A third of 16 to 18 year olds in Liverpool attend the college featured in the report. | |
| For every 25 pounds spent on benefits for young people, only one pound is spent on employment support. |
Channel Perspectives
What each channel focused on, with key quotes.
Channel 4 focused on the human impact of youth unemployment, using on-the-ground reporting from a Liverpool college to illustrate the crisis. The tone was sympathetic to young people and critical of the current system, highlighting the imbalance between benefits spending and employment support. The report also emphasised the political collaboration between Alan Milburn and Andy Burnham as a key development, and framed the issue as a test for the incoming prime minister.
- “It's not a shortage of effort that's the problem. It's a shortage of opportunity and it's a shortage of support and that's what we've got to put right.”
- “For every 25 pounds that we're spending on benefits for young people, we're only spending a pound on employment support, even though the vast majority of young people who get a disability benefit or a health benefit actually want to be in work. That's a crazy sense of priority.”
- “We've demonstrated that by doing things differently, and that is not a sanctions-first approach, a punitive way of dealing with people, we're treating them as human beings and providing wraparound support. We can reduce the welfare bill, and we have to.”
Broadcast Timeline
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