Burnham Signals 'Radical' Benefits Shake-Up for a Million Young Brits

Andy Burnham has teed up a major rethink of how Britain backs its young people — and he isn't ruling out getting tough on benefits to do it. Speaking to the media ahead of the second Alan Milburn review into young people not in work, education or training, Burnham said the mission amounts to nothing less than rethinking childhood from the early years up.

He told Times Radio he is ready to make hard calls. With around a million people in their 20s on benefits, Burnham said: 'I am prepared to take difficult decisions because I can't accept the idea that we have a million or more young people in their 20s on benefits.' He said there 'does need to be quite radical change in the way we support young people.'

Milburn's report, due out this month, will push for ambitious efforts to get young people into jobs and training, according to the Guardian. It is also expected to recommend limiting access to some benefits for those who refuse to engage. The first instalment, published in May, laid out the scale of the problem: about one in eight young people — 1 million — were neither working nor in training, a situation blamed on largely structural factors including inequality, the modern labour market and mental health.

Burnham framed it as far bigger than a welfare tweak. He called it a 'root and branch review of childhood,' pointing to early years as the starting line and noting too many children arrive at school not ready to learn. 'If they're not ready to learn in reception class, that gap stays all the way through the school system,' he said. He compared the scale of the overhaul to changing the pensions triple lock while building a new adult social care system, and warned that leaving young people in their 20s without hope is 'a dangerous thing to do.'

On the money, Burnham told the BBC he can't promise when the overall benefits bill will start falling, because investment has to come first. Spending on support for young people will have to rise before anything else, he said, which may mean reprioritising funds. Long term, he expects the total bill to come down.

Pressed on whether that could happen within this parliament, Burnham stayed cagey but upbeat: 'You do it in a way that's sustainable. And if it could be this parliament — as soon as possible is the thing I would say to you.' All eyes now turn to Milburn's report this month for the fine print.