The government plans to cut health and disability benefits for young people in a bid to push them into employment or training.
According to proposals published today in the ‘Pathways to Work’ green paper, adults under the age of 22 will no longer have access to the ‘health top up’ to universal credit, worth £416 per month.
It is hoped that this will “remove any potential disincentive to work” and free up funds that will be reinvested into work support and training opportunities through the government’s ‘youth guarantee’.
The government is also planning to raise the age that young people transition from ‘disability living allowance’ to personal independence payments, from 16 to 18.
This transition age should “better align” with other key milestones in young people’s lives, the green paper argues.
It comes amid a crisis of inactivity in young people, with the most recent figures suggesting almost a million people aged 16 to 24 years old are classed as not in employment, education or training (NEET).
Changes to benefits in the green paper are expected to cut £5 billion from the benefits bill by the end of the decade.
In a statement to Parliament today, welfare secretary Liz Kendall said: “This is all about matching [benefits] with our youth guarantee announced in the Get Britain Working plan to make sure every young person is earning or learning.
“Because if you are not in education, employment or training when you are young, the impact can be lifelong and scarring for your health, job prospects and earnings, and so we have got to put that right.”
Kendall claimed the savings will be “reinvested”, but told MPs they will “need to wait” until next week’s Spring budget for an Office of Budgetary Responsibility assessment of costs.
The proposed “delay” in access to health element of Universal Credit until age 22 is worth about £416 per month on top of the basic £311 allowance.
About 66,000 18- to 21-year-olds are understood to claim this top up.
Disability living allowance rates for children are between £28.70 and £184.30 per week, while adult personal independence payments are worth up to £184.30 per week.
About 48,000 young people transition between the two benefits each year, with a “success rate” of 82 per cent.
The green paper says: “Delaying access to the [Universal Credit] health element would remove any potential disincentive to work during this time.
“Proceeding with this change would be on the basis that resources could be better spent on improving the quality and range of opportunities available to young people through the guarantee, so they can sign up to work or training rather than long-term benefits.
“Such a change could further support the objective for a distinct and active transition phase for young people, based on learning or earning for all.”
It says the Get Britain Working white paper plans aim to ensure “all” young people are earning or learning and that cutting benefits entitlements to people in a “clearer youth phase” between ages 18 and 21 would “improve longer-term employment prospects”.
However, only eight select areas of the country have been provided funding for the youth guarantee, with plans at varying states of readiness despite funding potentially being released from next month.
Ben Harrison, director of the Work Foundation at Lancaster University, said the government is “right” to recognise the long-term effects of unemployment in its youth guarantee.
But, he added: “Today’s proposal to delay access to the health element of universal credit for young people under 22 risks delegitimising young people’s health issues and undermining efforts to support them into work.
“Making it more challenging for young disabled people and those with long-term health conditions to access a health-related top up to their benefits is likely to leave many without the support they need or push them into poorly paid and insecure work.
“Overall, young people are already more than twice as likely as older workers to be in severely insecure work, which risks exacerbating any underlying health condition they have, with potential negative implications for their future earnings and wellbeing.”
Becci Newton, director of public policy and research at the Institute for Employment Studies, said: “It’s really important that young people do not stagnate in worklessness because of the risks of lifetime scarring.
“Young people need support and resources to help them towards good work not precarity – the consultation is short on details of this support.
“We risk a policy gap here with potential that young people experiencing poor health fall through the support net.”
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