Jobs crisis deepens as 300,000 'hidden' middle-class young people live off Bank of Mum and Dad

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The Institute for Fiscal Studies found 80 per cent of hidden NEETs live with their parents

Hundreds of thousands of young people across Britain are out of work and education but are not claiming benefits, with many instead relying on their parents for financial support.

A report from the Institute for Fiscal Studies (IFS) has identified around 300,000 "hidden NEETs" who are not in education, employment or training and are also receiving no benefits.

The IFS found that four in five of these young people live with their parents, while another six per cent live independently but receive money from relatives to help cover their everyday costs.

Nearly 900,000 people aged 18 to 24 in Great Britain were classed as NEETs at the end of 2025, but those who do not claim benefits can miss out on contact with work coaches and government employment programmes designed to help people into jobs.

Many hidden NEETs are aged 22 or 23 and may be looking for work, volunteering or taking a temporary break after university. More than half have a degree, compared with just 12 per cent of NEETs who receive benefits.

There are also major differences in their family backgrounds, with around 52 per cent having at least one parent who worked in a managerial or professional role when they were 14.

More than a third also grew up in households in the highest third of the income distribution.

By comparison, just six per cent of NEETs claiming benefits came from families in the highest income third, while 72 per cent grew up in the lowest third.

The difficult graduate jobs market is making it harder for young people trying to find work, with figures from job website Adzuna showing entry-level vacancies have almost halved over the past year.

Just 8,383 positions were advertised in July, down from 15,397 during the same month last year, marking the lowest number recorded since Adzuna began tracking the figures in 2016.

The collapse in opportunities comes at a particularly painful moment with a record-breaking 262,820 people preparing to start university this month, many of whom will eventually join an already crowded queue for professional roles.

For the thousands of recent graduates currently sitting at home without work, the shrinking pipeline of suitable jobs helps explain why so many remain dependent on family support rather than standing on their own feet.

Former Labour health secretary Alan Milburn, who is leading a review into youth unemployment, has described hidden NEETs as "one of the most troubling findings" of his research so far.

Because these young people have no contact with the benefits system, they are invisible to the state and cut off from the main routes into employment support.

IFS economist Jed Michael offered a more measured assessment.

He said hidden NEETs were "much more likely to have good job prospects" than their benefit-claiming counterparts, with lower levels of poor health or disability.

Despite this, the group is typically entitled to at least £4,000 a year in universal credit.

That money is going unclaimed, raising questions about whether thousands of young people are missing out on support they are fully eligible to receive.