Alan Milburn's review of youth inactivity is set to call for subsidised flexible jobs for disabled young people, in a "jobs revolution" for the nearly one million 16 to 24-year-olds not in education, employment or training.

The government-commissioned review, which is due to report this month, will propose a Danish-style "flexi-job" scheme, with the state subsidising paid, flexible work for disabled and chronically ill young people aged 16 to 24, alongside voluntary hiring targets for large employers.

The scale of the problem

About one million young people are Neet — not in education, employment or training — around one in eight of all 16 to 24-year-olds, the highest level in more than a decade. Around 45 per cent of them are disabled or in ill health, and disabled young people are three times as likely to be Neet as their peers.

Nearly half of 24-year-old Neets have never worked, according to the review's interim findings, and young people with special educational needs and disabilities are around 80 per cent more likely to be Neet. Milburn has described the rising numbers as a "moral and economic crisis" and warned of a "lost generation".

How the jobs would be paid for

The review is expected to propose redirecting some of the £4 billion-a-year disability benefits budget into employment support — an idea already contested by campaigners and Labour MPs. It will also call for intensive skills support for disabled young people, and for employers to give young people more encounters with the world of work, which research suggests cuts the risk of becoming Neet by 86 per cent.

The review was commissioned by the Department for Work and Pensions. Its final report is expected this autumn, and ministers will then decide which of its recommendations to adopt.

Sources: The Guardian, Milburn review jobs revolution young people disabilities Neets, 5 November 2026, https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/nov/05/milburn-review-jobs-revolution-young-people-disabilities-neets ; TradersUnion, 5 November 2026; CareerAhead Online, 5 November 2026; IGD, 5 November 2026.