Milburn Review Urges State-Backed 'Flexi-Jobs' for Disabled Youth

Nearly half of Britain's one million young Neets — those not in education, employment or training — are disabled or in ill health, and the Milburn review will this month call for an "opportunity revolution" to fix it. The review, led by former Labour cabinet minister Alan Milburn, recommends the government create and subsidise paid jobs for thousands of disabled 16- to 24-year-olds, according to its findings due for publication this month.

The core proposal is a Danish-style "flexi-job" scheme. It would guarantee disabled participants employment while letting them set their own working hours — in some cases starting with as few as four hours a week — with wages topped up by the state.

The review frames this as an overhaul of what it sees as an outdated welfare and skills system. It argues the state should step in and underwrite jobs for young people locked out of employment and training, pairing employment subsidies with intensive skills support.

How bad is the youth employment crisis?

The numbers are stark. Disabled young people are three times as likely to be Neet as their non-disabled peers. Nearly half of 24-year-old Neets have never worked at all.

Milburn has described soaring Neet numbers as a moral and economic crisis, warning that failure to tackle rising youth disengagement from work risks creating a "lost generation". He has also rejected what he calls "myths" about young people being "snowflakes", insisting the crisis in youth mental health is real and most youngsters want to work.

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%), according to the latest official figures.

What would 'flexi-jobs' and 'job carving' look like?

Beyond the Danish model, the review proposes creative ways of shaping jobs to individual capabilities. One method, "job carving", splits the three component parts of a single entry-level role and matches youngsters to each part. A retail role combining stock-filling, till work and locking up would become three separate job opportunities.

The review says young people with disabilities need a flexible, supportive approach to work — one that acknowledges fluctuating medical conditions and lack of work experience, and recognises the value of part-time roles in building confidence.

Where would the money come from?

Milburn has suggested the state switch some of the £4bn a year it spends on disability benefits for young people into comprehensive, high-quality employment and training support. The government has said it will not endorse "crude cuts" to benefits.

Pushback looks likely. Campaigners, and potentially backbench Labour MPs, argue that job support should not be funded by disability benefit cuts that would push many young people into poverty and further away from the job market.

What will be asked of employers?

The review will urge large employers to voluntarily adopt employment targets for disabled 16- to 24-year-olds, though it's expected to stop short of recommending statutory quotas. Milburn's proposals acknowledge that many businesses are unlikely to create job opportunities for disabled young people without government support, given barriers in recruitment processes and inflexible job design.

The report also calls for a boost to job support, including:

• Supported internships and placements
• Specialist job matching and coaching
• Support for employers to provide workplace adjustments

Milburn, who has criticised the limited ambitions of existing government job support programmes, has previously called for a "turbo-charging" of specialist internships for young people with special educational needs moving on from school and college.

Does this echo earlier schemes?

The plans have echoes of the postwar Remploy scheme, which created state-funded workplaces providing "sheltered" employment for disabled ex-service personnel. At its height, Remploy ran 90 factories across the UK. The last closed in 2013.

Milburn argued in his interim report earlier this year that abandoning a cohort of Covid-era youngsters coping with high levels of depression, anxiety, autism and ADHD would have a scarring effect on their life chances and lifetime earnings.

The report lands at a moment when the government must decide whether to fund the scheme through benefit redirection — the choice that will determine whether Milburn's revolution survives contact with his own party.