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What were you doing in 2001?
You were probably worried about a new thing called online-banking. Renting videos from Blockbuster.
Tony Blair was in Downing Street, Concorde was still flying, Del Boy was on the telly at Christmas, and…
Alan Milburn was strutting his stuff in government. Forgotten that? That’s exactly what he’s banking on.
Over last weekend he was engineering leak’s of his NEETs interim report, the precursor to the launch of the actual report, which will be published, later...
... no doubt on a high-tide of fresh leaks. Politics is show-business. Well, show-n-tell-business.
The 'new' report, it’s pretty much a rehash, from a report Milburn is banking on us forgetting about.
Here it is; Bridging the Gap, New Opportunities for 16-18 year olds…
… and wait for it…
... Not in Education Employment or Training…
...aka NEETs… published in July 1999!
Milburn was still Health Secretary when the Blair government launched Connexions in 2001.
Its purpose? To stop young people drifting into:
- unemployment,
- crime,
- social exclusion,
- drug misuse,
- homelessness,
- educational failure.
... sound familiar?
At the centre of the scheme were ‘personal advisers’, guiding vulnerable young people through education, employment, housing, health and welfare systems.
... sound familiar?
Twenty years ago the fear was:
- heroin,
- anti-social behaviour,
- truancy,
- teenage pregnancy,
- youth crime.
Today the fear is:
- anxiety,
- screen dependency,
- social withdrawal,
- economic inactivity,
- mental-health fragility.
Different manifestations. Same underlying anxiety. Young people detached from mainstream society, and…
... there is a strong sense Britain keeps rediscovering the same social problem, renaming it, reorganising it and commissioning another review.
The danger is; this becomes less a radical rethink and more a cut-and-paste revival of the Blair-era social exclusion agenda.
Connexions didn't really work.
The National Audit Office found successes in places but also all the usual…
… fragmented accountability, staffing shortages, confusion of purpose,
uneven delivery, and difficulty reaching the most disengaged young people.
If Milburn had said we’ve tried this before, let’s learn why it didn’t work and try again...
... I’d have forgiven him… agreed to calling plagiarism, research (!). But no. He's hoping we are institutionally amnesic.
We’re not.
NEETs should worry us all… around a million young Britons now sit in that category… it’s not a statistic… it’s a warning light.
Milburn’s rehash gets us no closer to solutions than the last time.
There’s a generation drifting away from the normal transition into adulthood. If there is one thing they need, it’s a job.
A decent job, with prospects.
We need to fix the broken transitions between school and employment and employment and housing.
Something HMG discussed all those years ago.
Here’s the uncomfortable truth…
… young inexperienced workers are expensive… particularly for small businesses, and… most British employers are small businesses.
Tiny firms; five people, seven people. Maybe ten. The very organisations politicians rely upon to create jobs are the least equipped to become an extension of social services.
Milburn’s new wheeze is to stop the anomaly, where families with an apprentice, lose child benefits between 16-18yrs.
His big idea is ‘more benefits’ and for the state to keep paying.
You need to know;
- 40% of apprenticeships start in SMEs, but…
- Only 2% of SMEs offer them
- Almost half of apprentices are over 25yrs, and...
- Only 23% starts are under 19yrs...
- Last year, of the 226,000 apprenticeship starts in England, about 53,500 were under-19yrs.
This cannot be all about child benefit.
More likely, the labour market will not automatically absorb inexperienced young people simply because Milburn wishes it, or gives mum and dad a bung…
… especially not in an economy with weak productivity, rising unemployment, complexity and cautious employers.
Which is why the old Youth Opportunities schemes, for all their flaws, at least recognised one economic reality.
Government, sometimes, has to absorb part of the risk of employing inexperienced young people.
Today, the barriers may actually be worse.
Technology has removed many entry-level jobs. Employment, more complex. AI is eating entry-level roles for lunch. The ladder into adulthood is slowly being pulled up.
There are three things Milburn should think about…
First, stop endlessly reorganising support structures, benefits and create genuine continuity for vulnerable young people.
Second, recognise work itself is often part of recovery, confidence and wellbeing.
Third, and most important, make employing young people cheaper and easier; national insurance exemptions, wage subsidies, support for SMEs.
Reduce the risks to employers, because...
... if a young person is detached from work at nineteen, they’ll still be detached at twenty-nine.
Milburn’s review matters and the fact it is a rehash, makes it matter even more.
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