young people shouldn't be forced to repay benefits

[stolenview]

www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-politics-33092329

As if young people don't have enough to worry about with no homes they can afford and ever decreasing jobs. Shockingly ageist also.

People with high debts often turn to suicide. Horrible policy.

[HelenF350]

There is nothing in this article to suggest this is being considered. It's an idea from a book by an MP but nowhere does it say the contents are being considered for policy. This scaremongering is getting ridiculous.

[RedandYellow24]

So if you have gone to uni worked hard left with say £15k in debt it takes you a year to get a job and so you know owe £3k in JSA not even counting housing benefit if it's still around.
Is the same going apply if you have a kid at 18 then start looking for a job 5y later?
It is so hard these days with very complex tasks you are set must spend 35h a week searching and jumping through hops or sanctioned it's not like the old days where you turn up say yes have been looking and that's it. You might as well just take out a credit card and live off that be for less stressful

[TheChandler]

And I thought I was right wing...

Kwasi Kwarteng appears to have a rudimentary knowledge of how markets and competition work, but appears blissfully unaware of a number of factors which make the UK such an attractive place to come to work in. Making young people (probably illegal under European law anyway) pay back benefits and disadvantaging them against other market players and workers from other parts of the EU seems somewhat inadvisable.

There is a fair point about tax credits needing revision and students who have to take out loans being disadvantaged when compared to those who rely on benefits, but this isn't a solution and would quite possibly be more harmful to competition and to the UK's place in the internal market. The whole of Europe is moving towards more of a social economy now and the US isn't doing as well as it once was in comparison.

I would lay a bet that Kwasi Kwarteng comes from a close knit family that provided him with a secure upbringing which enabled him to attend Eton, Cambridge and Harvard (even with scholarships). These policies don't assist individuals that well - what they do is widen the gap between those lucky enough to be born into supportive families and those who, in lacking that, would be financially disadvantaged for the rest of their lives, no matter how talented. And that's the sort of talent we need to ensure is active on the marketplace on an equal footing, not burden with debt before they even get started on an independent life.