David Cameron on Wednesday signalled a major overhaul in benefits for 18- to 24-year-olds when he announced plans to withdraw housing benefit and jobseeker's allowance from many of the 1 million youngsters currently not in work, education or training.At the end of a Conservative conference in Manchester dedicated to sending tough messages on welfare, party officials said the proposals for young people to be either "earning or learning" were a prime example of how a modern Tory state would not turn its back on the world, but instead "equip the vulnerable for the global race". The proposal was the only policy announcement in a speech dedicated to setting out the prime minister's vision of a society in which there is opportunity for all.
Details of how the benefits would be withdrawn, and any groups exempted, will be included in a review into Britain's complex patchwork of youth unemployment initiatives now being led by the cabinet secretary, Sir Jeremy Heywood. But Tory sources said jobseeker's allowance (JSA) and housing benefit would be removed from anyone unreasonably turning down the offer of work or education.
The Institute for Fiscal Studies says 410,000 under-25s were currently on JSA, costing £1.2bn a year. A further 380,000 are on housing benefit, costing £1.8bn. The housing benefit claimants who are in work will not be affected. There are also some 18- to 24-year-olds classified as economically inactive who are not receiving benefits, but might be required to train or work.
Cameron referred to his latest example of Tory tough love elliptically in his conference speech, saying: "Today it is still possible to leave school, sign on, find a flat, start claiming housing benefit and opt for a life on benefits. It's time for bold action here. We should ask, as we write our next manifesto, if that option should really exist at all. Instead we should give young people a clear, positive choice. Go to school. Go to college. Do an apprenticeship. Get a job. But choose the dole? We've got to offer something better than that."
He insisted the idea should not be painted as callous, but predicted that Labour would fight it all the way. It is possible that the Liberal Democrats will back the plan, even though Cameron touted it primarily as a candidate for the Tory manifesto.
The Heywood review was announced in the summer by Nick Clegg, partly in response to what Whitehall has acknowledged has been the failure of its chief youth unemployment initiative, the £1bn three-year youth contract. Employers have proved deeply reluctant to offer work placements to young unemployed people at the subsidy levels offered by the youth contract. "The average school leaver doesn't have a clue about which government departments or agencies look after the schemes that are out there to help them," Clegg conceded.
Tory sources said there would be exemptions for people in care, disabled people and probably single parents. The proposals are separate from a discarded plan for housing benefit to be taken away from all under 25-year-olds, in or out of work, a measure primarily designed to cut public spending and not linked to training. The government is already committed to raising the participation age so that all 16- and 17-year olds are in education or training by 2015.
The education secretary, Michael Gove, said: "We can achieve great things if we can get people to work. Languishing on benefits from 16 is no way to realising your full potential. It is a national scandal. There are some people for whom you need not so much a 'nudge' as a 'dunt' towards the workplace."
The latest government statistics showed 1.09 million people aged 16-24 were not in education or employment, 15% of the age group. Just over half were actively seeking work, and therefore classified as unemployed. Many are single parents.
The TUC said the plan would push hundreds of thousands of young people, including those with young families, "even deeper into poverty".
The University and College Union urged Cameron to "move beyond glib and superficial analysis of youth unemployment and its causes We will not resolve this massive problem by forcing young people into unstable, low-paying employment or inadequate training."
Original Article
Source: theguardian.com
Author: Patrick Wintour
No comments:
Post a Comment