Young people are facing a generation-defining crisis, with two major reports published on 19 October 2026 laying bare the scale of the challenge. Prime Minister Andy Burnham and Dame Rachel de Souza, the children's commissioner for England, have both highlighted how the younger generation is being systematically let down by policy failures and regional inequality. According to The Guardian, Burnham is signalling fundamental changes to how the welfare system operates, while de Souza's research exposes stark variations in childhood outcomes across England.
De Souza has examined more than 160 datasets to understand how children's experiences differ across the country, and her findings are alarming. The variation in support and outcomes is what she describes as
staggering, with some local authorities spending nothing on youth services per teenager while others invest £421 annually. In some regions, nearly 90% of looked-after children are placed outside their local area, compared to just 20% in the best-performing authorities—a disparity that tears children away from family and community ties.
De Souza's report, titled the Childhood Lottery, identifies Middlesbrough as the most challenging place for a child to grow up and Cheshire East as the least challenging. The commissioner has made the difficult decision to highlight the 20 places where children face the greatest obstacles, based on a wide range of measures including educational outcomes, health waiting times, and safety.
We cannot shy away, though, from the fact that poor education outcomes, long health waiting lists or simply feeling unsafe converge in particular places.
What does the data reveal about children's wellbeing?
The scale of the crisis extends across multiple areas of children's lives. Over 1 million children (1,048,965) had active referrals to mental health services in 2024-25, while 55% of pupils failed to achieve a good standard in English and Maths GCSEs. Around 1 million young people aged 16 to 24 are not in education, employment or training (NEET), and 44% of looked-after children are placed outside their local authority area. Among care leavers, 40% are NEET, with a further 6% having unknown activity status. Additionally, 12% of children reported not feeling safe in their local area.
De Souza's report calls for minimum standards for children's services, a children's emergency fund, and deputy mayors for children in strategic authorities and larger councils, recognising that piecemeal approaches have failed to address the systemic nature of the problem.
How will the welfare system change for young people?
Burnham's response focuses specifically on the NEET crisis and the role of the welfare system in perpetuating it. He argues that the current approach has failed because it provides
an assessment, a payment and, after that, a goodbye. Too often there is no support, no offer of skills and no opportunity to get a job. The Prime Minister has accepted that many young people feel excluded from opportunity, and he places responsibility squarely on politicians for stripping away support at the moment when growing up became harder.
Burnham outlined a fundamentally different approach:
This will be our offer: a clear guarantee of support. But it will also be matched by an expectation that young people will take up the opportunities made available to them. This will mean big changes to the way our welfare system operates. Benefits will become the backstop, not the starting point. The system will no longer begin by establishing which benefits a young person is entitled to. It will begin with their ambitions and the help they need to achieve them.
According to BBC News, Burnham said the welfare approach for young people should start with their ambitions and the support they need, rather than first determining benefit entitlement. This represents a significant philosophical shift from a system centred on means-testing to one centred on capability-building.
What role will Alan Milburn's review play?
The government was originally expected to publish Alan Milburn's final report on youth employment and welfare reform before the budget, but it has been delayed until next month. Milburn has been explicit about his recommendations, arguing that the government should redirect money from welfare spending into employment support. According to The Independent, Milburn has argued for shifting money from welfare spending into employment support, with employment, mental-health and benefits support better integrated.
Research published earlier this year revealed the scale of the imbalance: the government spends 25 times more on youth benefits than on employment support, a disparity that Milburn has identified as a key driver of youth inactivity. Burnham has signalled that the government will take Milburn's recommendations seriously when the review is published.
What immediate action is the government taking?
The government is preparing to announce sector-specific jobs plans this week to begin addressing the crisis. The government is expected to announce sector "jobs plans" this week, including 22,400 annual apprenticeships for under-25s in accountancy, legal services and consultancy. Further jobs plans for digital, technology and defence sectors are expected to follow later in the week.
The scale of the challenge is underscored by the latest figures: ONS figures put the number of 16–24-year-olds not in education, employment or training at 981,000 in April–June 2026, around one in eight people in that age group. This represents not just an economic challenge but what Burnham has previously described as both an economic catastrophe and a moral failure.
What happens next?
Milburn's review is expected to be published next month, after which the government will announce its response. The sector jobs plans being rolled out this week represent the first concrete steps, but the broader welfare reform outlined by Burnham will require legislative changes and a sustained commitment to reorienting the system around young people's ambitions rather than benefit entitlements. The government faces pressure to move quickly: the longer young people remain outside education, employment and training, the harder it becomes to reintegrate them into the labour market.
