David Cameron has announced that some benefits may be withdrawn from 18 to 24 year-olds. In his speech to the Conservative party conference the Prime Minister announced a plan that would take Job Seeker’s Allowance and Housing Benefit away from those under the age of 25. Mr Cameron acknowledged that there were still over one million within this age bracket not in education, employment or training, and this is his latest attempt to reverse that trend. The education secretary Michael Gove said: ‘It is always going to be the case that there are some people for whom you need not so much a nudge as a dunt (a firm blow or stroke) towards the workplace.’
Talking to Youthwork, Andy Burns, CEO of youth work charity East to West, said: ‘If what is proposed from the Prime Minister’s rallying cry really is enacted then it will cause more young people (many of whom are already vulnerable and excluded) to be excessively exposed to greater vulnerability which naturally will lead to an increase in homelessness. Yet what dismays me more is the way that young people are, in this age of the sound-bites, being blamed increasingly for the ills of society.
‘As far as I’m aware your average 18 year old didn’t cause the financial crash – but they’re certainly being blamed and made to pay for it. While pensions constitute nearly 50 per cent of the benefits bill we highlight a small and very vulnerable group in society, especially when they’ve already been stripped of their EMA (educational maintenance allowance) and invited to bankrupt themselves through university. And if they can’t make it to college or university because of these financial walls – they are publically chastised for being NEET – they are not NEET because they are all lazy (with the rose-tinted youth worker specs off, some are) but most NEETs we support at East To West are high on drive to find work but low on self-confidence and experience. It seems like we only employ those with experience which rules out young people – how do they get a chance? They want to be employed but are competing against 10s if not 100s of people (some older and with experience, prepared to do these jobs that once they wouldn’t have looked at) for job vacancies.’
