Really interesting report on NEETs. What do you think happens next?

[SomedayIllBeSaturdayNight]

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/may/23/uk-young-people-workplace-anxiety-alan-milburn

Such an interesting report by Alan Millburn in why the UK has so many young NEETs.

' “[Young people] are different, not worse, not lazier, not less intelligent. They have grown up in a digital world that has rewired how they communicate, form relationships and manage stress. They have fewer experiences of workplaces and they present with higher levels of anxiety and depression.”

Does this ring true to you? And what are the next few years going to look like?

I personally can't see any reason for the government not to ban social media for under 16s in this context.

Brutally I think they just need to stop benefits for under 25s unless they’re severely disabled.

As PP correctly identified once a young person starts down the route of UC, PIP and ‘mental health’ it’s very very hard to get them back. I’ve never known anyone come off benefits under that context, actually. And benefits leads to no work ethic and a lack of routine, which leads to addiction and laziness which in turn leads to anxieties and more ‘mental health’. The diagnoses then roll in.

We need to cut those benefits and spend the money on incentives for firms to employ apprentices and older people who are looking to rejoin the job market.

All u25's? Including care leavers? Homeless etc?

Yes.

So any under 25's who really legitimately can't work, or can't find work? What would happen to them?

Can you give some examples of those jobs?

What happens to the parents of these young people who are on a low income with UC top up? As you can a lot of very motivated young people cannot get jobs. I presume the idea is that they continue to live with their parents. Their parent will have lost the child element on UC. If this is their only child and one parent is not ill their UC will be further reduced because more of their earnings are taken into account. If the 18 year old cannot find work or claim anything to contribute at all that is a very large drop in income.

So alternative is the 18 year old is just kicked out (there are a few parents who take that attitude now, you’re 18 you have to rely on yourself.) You can only sofa surf so long, councils won’t have money
even for hostels.

I presume there would be an exception for carers for a disabled person. What about people who have children. Just saying don’t have children does not work. People will have children by choice. We see many grown adults here with contraception failures. Lifting the two child rule has just ended the need for women with a third child born due to rape needing to give evidence of this from a charity or police to the DWP.

Nothing we do will be perfect for everyone involved. There will always be the ‘what abouts’.

Surely we have to differentiate between young people who cannot get jobs, those who can get them but can’t stand being in a workplace, and those who entirely refuse to engage with the whole capitalist enterprise and just stay in their rooms playing games.

As a lot of neets are in more deprived areas with parents likely to be on lower wages or unemployed due to not finding work or illness the first group I mentioned may be quite large.

I’m not saying there shouldnt be any changes. One thing could be more in person job hunting at the job centre even if the person is still on a device doing it. It can be very easy (I did for a bit) to get into the habit of literally just staying at home and then not communicate even if you are doing the job search from bed. I found it led to feeling low.

Then their families have had more than their share of state support and it’s time to break the intergenerational cycle.

Are you polling for a newspaper or the government.

Because these responses are odd.

My responses? No, no polling, just trying to understand some of these ideas more, that's all.
Why is that weird?

But isn't that punishing the children for the actions of their parents?

They’re not children.

What utter nonsense.

My dd is on enhanced PIP, UC with the inability to work element and has had severe mental health struggles since 2020 (needing hospitalisation),autism, adhd, dyspraxia, CPTSD and a physical disability. She has an EHCP and has just got into a Russel Group uni after studying for a year. There are others on her course like her.

Her MH and NDs are severe disabilities and the benefits she gets have been crucial to her getting well and into uni.There is no way on earth she could have worked or gone to the job centre each week. She needs a lot of support and will need to get work that is not face to face which she intends to do and her degree will hopefully lead to this.

What has got her and others out of the total nightmare we didn’t see coming was her EHCP, benefits to press pause and support alongside a lot of MH treatment. The majority don’t get EHCPs or MH treatment and need both.

If you want these poor youngsters to get into work better SEND provision, a fixed broken MH service and benefits that enable them to get well and move forward are all crucial.

There is so much ignorance on these threads from people that really do not know what they’re talking about.

But you're still punishing them for someone else's decision.

What about the strength of weed nowadays?

Teens do smoke it it’s dangerous (and I wasn’t adverse to a bit of old fashioned grass back in the day but that barely touched the sides in comparison)

Or the steroids they take at the gym? Roidrage is a thing as I understand it.

Plus the internet showing seemingly loaded young adults (I know some are) flaunting lifestyles that are impossible for almost everyone that normal life seems like losing.

Many of them know they are being handed a world where hard work and university degrees are no guarantee of an interesting launch into young adulthood.

Who wants to spend their 20s in their childhood bedroom through choice?

Places you went to socialise dance clubs, music venues, are now full of mixed ages there are so few places which are for youngsters only, except student union bars still I presume.

So they turn to the internet to meet someone, anyone, and you are judged on there by a swipe of a photo, that’s it, nothing beyond and you might do the same.

A start would be giving them some space to breathe to meet others in person. Making councils dedicate a Friday evening or two of the local halls for young adult meet-ups perhaps?

Ask the youngsters what they need that is possible now. Not big ideas like overhaul the GCSE system that will take years.

We don’t know what they need, each other mostly, I would guess would be a good start.

And I’d like to add, untreated MH struggles leads to severe MH struggles which costs more. You can ignore the broken SEND and MH services all you like but the cost of ignoring them lead to long term unemployment and more severe, more costly MH struggles and all too often tragedy. You’re just punting problems down the road to a massive bottleneck.

SEND budgets are enormous. We spend huge amount on SEN.

How? They would be under exactly the same rules as anyone else

So no U25's could claim benefits unless the are severely disabled? Would you be ok with the resulting rise in homelessness? Addiction? Death that would cause?

I think you’d be surprised at how resourceful necessity makes people.

I see the benefit system play out day after day. There has been no reduction in the problems you mention due to the benefits.

Young people need money to live off!!!

I'm not at all saying my experience as a teen in the 90s is what your experience of a teen is now - if you thought I was saying that, sorry for not being clear.

SEND has been cut to the bone under the Tories and needs restructuring. Schools also need more money.