4th Special Report - Youth employment, education and training: Government Response

This is the government's response, published 15 October 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.

Read the government's response ↗ Report an error