Select committee: Work and Pensions Committee
Conclusion 9
3rd Report - Youth employment, education and training
Published 22 Jul 2026
Addressed to Department for Work and Pensions
Work and Pensions Committee Youth employment, education and training All items in this report Report on parliament.uk ↗ Inquiry on parliament.uk ↗
Conclusion (the committee's words)
The Secretary of State told us that increasing youth employment, education and training is his top priority, yet certain benefit rules disincentivise young people from pursuing opportunities. It is particularly concerning that 16 to 18-year-olds who take on an apprenticeship risk reducing the benefits paid to the rest of their family, and that young adult carers who study for more than 21 hours a week risk having to choose between education and their carer’s allowance payments. Further, the Government is considering removing the health element of Universal Credit for under-22s having not provided evidence on the employment impact. This lack of coherence within DWP-specific policy areas is inexcusable. We are concerned that there are likely to be other instances where benefit rules do not align with wider policy objectives. (Conclusion, Paragraph 54)
From: Work and Pensions Committee, 3rd Report - Youth employment, education and training (HC 180), 22 July 2026
Government response
The government responded to the whole report on 15 October 2026 (deadline 22 September 2026).
Summary written by Accountability Index from the government's response. It is not the government's own words.The government accepts two of the Committee's recommendations on the Youth Guarantee and apprenticeship awareness, partially accepts others, does not accept the National Insurance proposal, and defers several matters until the final Milburn report is published.
- On extending the National Insurance Upper Secondary Threshold to all under-25s, the government says "Do not accept", citing the need to restore the public finances and existing employer National Insurance reliefs for young people.
- On a youth employment strategy, the response says "Revisit when Milburn is published" and commits to publish "a full response to Alan Milburn's review in due course".
- On a 10-year minimum funding level, it says "Revisit once Milburn is published", stating that committing to long-term spending for a specific issue outside the Spending Review cycle "would reduce the credibility of any spending plans".
- On a Jobs Guarantee cost benefit analysis, it partially accepts: one will be included in the wider evaluation, but it is "not committing at this stage" to analysis of different periods of unemployment before referral.