'There is no guarantee!' Pat McFadden handed GB News grilling on Labour's youth employment scheme

Thank you for subscribing!

An estimated 981,000 16 to 24-year-olds in the UK were classed as NEET between April and June

Watch the moment GB News host Stephen Dixon grills Pat McFadden on Labour's new Jobs Guarantee scheme, as almost one million young Britons remain out of work.

Speaking to the People's Channel, the Work and Pensions Secretary assured the scheme will offer a "policy of hope" for unemployed youths.

New figures published by the Office for National Statistics this morning revealed an estimated 981,000 16 to 24-year-olds in the UK were classed as NEET (not in education, employment or training) between April and June.

The figures are down 30,000 on the previous quarter, when the total topped one million for the first time since 2013.

Detailing the scheme, Mr McFadden told GB News that it will help ease the "stickiness" of the benefits system.

He explained: "It's a scheme where, when young people have been out of work for 18 months or more, we will step in and pay their wages for six months, 25 hours a week at national minimum wage rates.

"And the reason we do that is because of what I call the stickiness in the benefits system, when people have been out of work for a long time, it's very, very hard for them to get back into work.

"It is an economic policy and a Labour market policy, but it's also a policy based on hope, and we need to offer more help to young people because frankly, for many years now, we've had too many of them out of work."

Pushing back on Mr McFadden's claims, Stephen highlighted that there is "no guarantee" that the companies that take the youths on will offer them full employment after six months.

The Labour MP responded: "I put that precise question to the managers at Boots yesterday, I said, 'what chances are that of retention for these young people after the six months is over?', and they told me that the chances of retention are very high.

"Because people grow in confidence, they get used to the pride and purpose that comes with having a job, and they get used to having to set the alarm clock and get up in the morning after six months, compared to two or three years in the dole. They've changed in a positive way as people, so the chances of retention are much higher."

Mr McFadden also revealed Labour's pledge to promote 300,000 work experience places for young people, including 10,000 places at supermarket Sainsbury's.

He told GB News: "The Prime Minister and I visited Sainsbury's yesterday in south London, where they're offering 10,000 work experience placements for young people, and they hire thousands of young people every year.

"So that bit of experience, that bit of getting used to the workplace, makes a great difference to their chances for the future. This is a really positive story, at a time of so much negative news around, we're giving hope to young people."

Noting the ONS figures on Neets, Mr McFadden said that the number has been "too high for too long", assuring that the Government will push further to get young people into employment.

He said: "The current figure is too high and it's been too high for too long. Those figures went up by about a quarter of a million between the end of the pandemic and the general election two years ago, and the situation we inherited was there was no jobs guarantee in place, there wasn't the funding for the 300,000 extra work experience placements.

"And in fact, on top of that, youth apprenticeship starts had declined by 40 per cent in 10 years. I am changing that too, I want to see 50,000 more youth apprenticeship starts in the next few years because apprenticeships are a great way into work for young people.

"But the difference now compared to a few years ago is that hope is on the way and help is on the way through the investment that we're making into work experience, youth apprenticeships and indeed, in the end, paid subsidised work for the long term young unemployed."

Mr McFadden concluded that British businesses will also receive financial incentives to employ young Britons.

He said: "I'm offering employers a hiring incentive of £3,000 if they take on a young person who's been out of work for six months or more. The Government's got its part to play and it's job to do, but I am hoping that great British businesses will step up and help us with this effort."