A forthcoming government review will recommend that the British state create and subsidise paid jobs for thousands of disabled young people as part of what its author describes as an "opportunity revolution" to reverse decades of labour market discrimination. According to The Guardian, the review is due to report this month and will propose "flexi-jobs" alongside employment subsidies and intensive skills support to help disabled and chronically ill 16- to 24-year-olds access work.
The review's author, former Labour cabinet minister Alan Milburn, has argued that the government should step in to underwrite jobs for young people who face barriers to employment and training, as part of a fundamental overhaul of what he views as an outdated welfare and skills system. Milburn has characterised the rising numbers of young people classified as "Neet" (not in education, employment or training) as a crisis, warning that failure to address youth disengagement from work risks creating a "lost generation" with lasting damage to life chances and lifetime earnings.
The scale of the challenge is substantial. Approximately one million young people are now classified as Neet, with nearly half (45%) disabled or in ill health. Disabled young people are three times as likely to be Neet as their non-disabled peers. According to the Department for Work and Pensions, 79.6% of disabled young people who were Neet remained so the following year, compared with 39.7% of non-disabled Neet young people, highlighting the persistent nature of the employment barrier for this group.
Milburn has rejected what he characterises as "myths" about young people being "snowflakes", insisting that the crisis in youth mental health is genuine, that most young people want to work, and that government and employers have a duty to provide support and opportunities. The most common conditions reported by disabled Neets were depression, bad nerves or anxiety (23.8%), followed by autism (22.7%) and other health problems or disabilities (18.5%).
What specific job models does the review propose?
The review will advocate for flexible and supportive approaches to work that acknowledge fluctuating medical conditions, lack of work experience, and the importance of part-time roles in building confidence. One prominent recommendation is for the UK to adopt a Danish-style employment scheme that guarantees disabled participants work while allowing them to set their own hours—in some cases starting with as few as four hours a week—with wages topped up by the government.
The review will also champion creative job design approaches, including "job carving": splitting the component parts of a single entry-level role and matching young people to each part. A retail position comprising stock-filling, till work and closing procedures would become three separate job opportunities, each suited to different individuals' capacities.
Beyond job creation, the review calls for expanded job support services, including supported internships, placements, specialist job matching and coaching, and employer support for workplace adjustments. The review will urge large employers to voluntarily adopt employment targets for disabled 16- to 24-year-olds, though it is expected to stop short of recommending statutory quotas.
How would these proposals be funded?
Although the government has stated it will not endorse "crude cuts" to benefits, Milburn has suggested that the state should redirect some of the £4 billion annually spent on disability benefits for young people into comprehensive, high-quality employment and training support. This approach echoes the postwar Remploy scheme, which created state-funded workplaces providing "sheltered" employment for disabled ex-service personnel. At its peak, Remploy operated 90 factories across the UK before the last facility closed in 2013.
However, Milburn's funding proposals are likely to face opposition from disability campaigners and potentially backbench Labour MPs, who argue that job support should not be financed through disability benefit cuts that could push many young people into poverty and further from the job market.
What barriers do disabled young people face in employment?
Milburn's proposals acknowledge that disabled young people encounter substantial obstacles in recruitment processes and inflexible job design. Many businesses are unlikely to create opportunities for them without government support. A survey of 417 Neet young people found that 23% of respondents whose activities were limited significantly by disability or ill health thought they would never enter work, education or training, compared with 6% of non-disabled respondents.
The employment landscape has also shifted unfavourably. The Work Foundation reported that online job-board analysis suggests starter jobs have fallen by 49% over the past decade, disproportionately affecting disabled young people. Nearly half of 24-year-old Neets have never worked, compounding the challenge of building employment experience.
The Social Mobility Commission has documented additional disparities: disabled young people from lower working-class backgrounds were less likely than non-disabled peers to reach higher professional jobs (4% versus 10%), and disabled graduates earned 8% less than their non-disabled counterparts.
What is the broader context for this review?
The Milburn review represents a sustained focus on youth employment challenges. In May 2026, Milburn's interim report revealed that 29.6% of disabled young people were Neet in 2024/25, compared with 8.7% of non-disabled peers, and that the disabled Neet rate had barely changed since 2013/14. Prime Minister Andy Burnham has warned that Britain faces an "economic catastrophe and moral failure" due to the scale of youth inactivity, and the government is preparing to announce tens of thousands of job opportunities as part of its response.
Milburn has been critical of the limited ambitions of existing government job support programmes and has previously called for a "turbo-charging" of support for young people with special educational needs transitioning from school and college. His review builds on earlier warnings about systemic failures: in May 2026, former Labour adviser Peter Hyman urged banning social media and reforming education to address the youth joblessness crisis, while Milburn himself revealed that the government spends 25 times more on youth benefits than on employment support.
What happens next?
The Milburn review is due to report this month, with its recommendations expected to shape government policy on youth employment. The Office for National Statistics' next quarterly Neet statistics release is scheduled for 26 November 2026, which will provide updated data on youth employment trends. The government's publication schedule also lists several related research releases for November, including an evidence review and "Test and Learn" research supporting the Milburn review's recommendations.
