Listen to this story Members can listen to an AI-generated audio version of this article. 1.0x Audio narration uses an AI-generated voice. 0:00 0:00 Become a member to listen to this article Subscribe Young people with disabilities and health conditions will be offered places on the government’s jobs guarantee scheme from April. Under an expansion of the programme, 18 to 24-year-olds receiving health benefits will be able to take up a government-funded job on a voluntary basis three months after their work capability assessment. The subsidised work scheme is currently available only to young unemployed people who have claimed universal credit for more than 18 months. Employers taking on eligible young people will have 100 per cent of their salary costs covered by the government, at the national minimum wage, for up to 25 hours a week for six months. Participants will also receive mentoring and tailored support with their mental health, finances and housing to prepare them for work. This support will be delivered by partner organisations paid up to £2,650 per participant, while employers will receive an additional £250 to cover onboarding costs. The scheme began in May in six pilot areas, ahead of a national rollout in November. Retail giant Boots was the first employer to take on NEET young people through the programme. Work and pensions secretary Pat McFadden said: “I’ve seen how the jobs guarantee is already changing lives and now we are putting long-term sick and disabled people at the front of the queue from April next year. “For many young people, this will be the first chance they’ve had of a real paid job, and the dignity and self-respect that comes with that.” The Labour Party, which announced the expansion at the start of its national conference in Liverpool, did not give an exact estimate for how many young people on health benefits are expected to take up the offer. But it said widening eligibility to young disabled people means “thousands” will have the chance to join the scheme, which aims to help up to 90,000 young people into work by the end of the Parliament. The expansion comes as the proportion of young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET) reporting a disability has risen sharply. Former Cabinet minister Alan Milburn’s interim NEET report found that 45 per cent of NEET young people in the UK report having a disability, more than double the 21.1 per cent recorded in 2013-14.