Oct 2, 2026 · 7 min · 2 segments
An official youth employment review by Alan Milburn recommends fast-track, unconditional benefits for severely disabled youth, alongside a job guarantee expansion. Is this finally some common sense or…
[sighs] Police expedite disabled young people which get fast-track access to benefits.
So, uh, it says young people with common disabilities and that have little prospect of getting a paying job should get fast-track access to disability benefits, an official review of youth unemployment will say.
The review was conducted by the former Labour health secretary, Alan Milburn, and, um, yeah, it says 16 to 24-year-olds with the most severe lifelong needs should be guaranteed swift and unconditional benefit support rather than having to prove they cannot work.
Um, currently, um, obviously they have to go-undergo, um, assessments, whether it's by PIP, whether it's, um, uh, out of work benefits with the Work Capability, um, Test.
There are obviously different, obviously different groups and categories, but they still have to go through those, um, [sighs] mutual assessments even if they, you know, they, they come from the highest, highest group.
Uh, um, they still have to go through the mutual assessments.
Um, so obviously there's a lot to change that.
I mean, I've...
As the lay-up, this goes ahead, I've-I've always said that anytime I talk about benefits on, on this podcast, I think, uh, that's sensible.
I think it's a waste of, um, resources and time, um, for anyone with life-- not even, you know, life, um, kind of life-limiting conditions.
I think anyone with lifelong, um...
In particular for PIP, anyone with a lifelong impairment or health condition that, that meets the criteria, you know, it's not going to, it's not going to change.
It seems to me, you know, a waste of time.
I, you know, I'm cynical, you know, I'm cynical on this podcast.
I always think that, you know, part of the op-mach-machinery of, um, subcontracting state, obviously you've got, you know, various companies that make a lot of money out of these assessments.
I think that's all partly to why they, um, as to why those things are still in place 'cause ultimately it's, it's...
As much as people talk about the, the cost of benefits and two billion or whatever it may be, and the fact that, you know, how much is going out, how much of, you know, people talk about the cost of these contracts and how much of these, you know, expenditures actually contract for the assessment of the benefits rather than actually, um, the actual total of actual funding going to individual through benefits themselves.
Because I'd like to see a breakdown of that obviously, I mean, you know, the classic example prior in the coalition years was, uh, I think the contract was A4E with the kind of, um, GSI type, um, out of work, kind of long-term work where you had to go in, um, do the courses and whatever else and, you know, prove they're doing something to look for work.
They had to go to these workshops and we, you know, we saw the unraveling of that particular company and, you know, they lost that contract because it was, you know, we saw all the kind of underpinning of, um, what or what wasn't taking place with that specific company and, you know, no, no doubt there'll be, you know...
Who knows what or, you know, what that kind of, um, what was happening even before then.
And, and effectively you've got to look at the money that's generated by these companies for doing these assessments as well.
I mean, if, if there were numerous kind of Channel Four or Panorama kind of documentaries into what goes on at some of these, you know, assessment centers or whatever else, obviously, you know, same fly-on-the-wall stuff and, you know, it's, it's a huge expense.
It's very, you know, they're very lucrative contracts.
So I think, you know, as much as people talk about the, the cost of actually awarding the benefit, there's a, there's a cost to sustaining these, you know, these massive contracts and these companies and a lot of these assessments ultimately are just for assessment sake because if you've got, particularly for PIP, if you've got a long-term condition that isn't going to change, fair, and you've been awarded it once, then what is...
[sighs] Police expedite disabled young people which get fast-track access to benefits.
So, uh, it says young people with common disabilities and that have little prospect of getting a paying job should get fast-track access to disability benefits, an official review of youth unemployment will say.
The review was conducted by the former Labour health secretary, Alan Milburn, and, um, yeah, it says 16 to 24-year-olds with the most severe lifelong needs should be guaranteed swift and unconditional benefit support rather than having to prove they cannot work.
Um, currently, um, obviously they have to go-undergo, um, assessments, whether it's by PIP, whether it's, um, uh, out of work benefits with the Work Capability, um, Test.
There are obviously different, obviously different groups and categories, but they still have to go through those, um, [sighs] mutual assessments even if they, you know, they, they come from the highest, highest group.
Uh, um, they still have to go through the mutual assessments.
Um, so obviously there's a lot to change that.
I mean, I've...
As the lay-up, this goes ahead, I've-I've always said that anytime I talk about benefits on, on this podcast, I think, uh, that's sensible.
I think it's a waste of, um, resources and time, um, for anyone with life-- not even, you know, life, um, kind of life-limiting conditions.
I think anyone with lifelong, um...
In particular for PIP, anyone with a lifelong impairment or health condition that, that meets the criteria, you know, it's not going to, it's not going to change.
It seems to me, you know, a waste of time.
I, you know, I'm cynical, you know, I'm cynical on this podcast.
I always think that, you know, part of the op-mach-machinery of, um, subcontracting state, obviously you've got, you know, various companies that make a lot of money out of these assessments.
I think that's all partly to why they, um, as to why those things are still in place 'cause ultimately it's, it's...
As much as people talk about the, the cost of benefits and two billion or whatever it may be, and the fact that, you know, how much is going out, how much of, you know, people talk about the cost of these contracts and how much of these, you know, expenditures actually contract for the assessment of the benefits rather than actually, um, the actual total of actual funding going to individual through benefits themselves.
Because I'd like to see a breakdown of that obviously, I mean, you know, the classic example prior in the coalition years was, uh, I think the contract was A4E with the kind of, um, GSI type, um, out of work, kind of long-term work where you had to go in, um, do the courses and whatever else and, you know, prove they're doing something to look for work.
They had to go to these workshops and we, you know, we saw the unraveling of that particular company and, you know, they lost that contract because it was, you know, we saw all the kind of underpinning of, um, what or what wasn't taking place with that specific company and, you know, no, no doubt there'll be, you know...
Who knows what or, you know, what that kind of, um, what was happening even before then.
And, and effectively you've got to look at the money that's generated by these companies for doing these assessments as well.
I mean, if, if there were numerous kind of Channel Four or Panorama kind of documentaries into what goes on at some of these, you know, assessment centers or whatever else, obviously, you know, same fly-on-the-wall stuff and, you know, it's, it's a huge expense.
It's very, you know, they're very lucrative contracts.
So I think, you know, as much as people talk about the, the cost of actually awarding the benefit, there's a, there's a cost to sustaining these, you know, these massive contracts and these companies and a lot of these assessments ultimately are just for assessment sake because if you've got, particularly for PIP, if you've got a long-term condition that isn't going to change, fair, and you've been awarded it once, then what is...
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