Youth Futures Foundation responds to the Autumn Budget

“The Chancellor has today outlined welcome commitments to support more young people to earn or learn, including a major investment of £820 million towards a strengthened Youth Guarantee over the next three years. This comes at an important time when the number of young people locked out of the labour market is at an 11-year high, with 1 in 8 young people currently not in education, employment or training (NEET).

"Decisive action is needed to address this challenge, and the Budget today sets out a positive direction of travel. We welcome the wage subsidy scheme offering guaranteed, fully funded six-month paid work placements for 18-to-21 year olds on Universal Credit, who have been looking for work for 18 months. Additionally, full funding for SME apprenticeships has been expanded to cover all under 25s. These measures lay some important foundations for a more evidence-led, system-wide response needed to give our young people better futures.

"We know that more will need to be done, given the backdrop of a softening labour market, rising youth mental ill health and growing numbers of inactive young people. Tackling this will require an integrated response across skills, employment, education, labour market and youth policy, designed around young people and underpinned by the strongest evidence.

"Bringing young people into the workforce - and helping them thrive - is not only a social responsibility for us all but an economic imperative. If we were to match the youth participation rate of the OECD leader, the Netherlands – where just 1 in 20 young people are NEET – that could increase the number of young people earning or learning by 567,000 and deliver £86 billion in long-term economic gains. With the right focus, this is a vision we can and should achieve.”

Barry Fletcher, CEO at Youth Futures Foundation