Alan Milburn's forensic report on the state of British youth delivers a damning diagnosis: more than a million young people are not in work, education, or training-Neets-and that number could rise to 1.25 million without radical change. He calls it a 'moral crisis' and a 'broken social contract,' arguing that younger generations are, for the first time, worse off than their parents.
Milburn's report goes beyond the Neet problem to offer an excoriating overview of systemic neglect since 2010, blaming institutional failures, lost youth services, and a lack of political priority. He insists this is structural, not about 'writing better CVs,' pointing to 1.6 million lost first-rung jobs and a 35% drop in apprenticeship starts over the past decade.
The report finds 84% of surveyed young people want to work, but face barriers like AI-driven hiring, lack of experience, and poor mental health support. Milburn criticizes a school system obsessed with exam results over outcomes, and underfunded further education colleges. His diagnosis is being compared to the Beveridge Report for its potential to shift national priorities. Remedies are expected in a second report before the Labour conference, with Milburn pushing for early prevention spending despite Treasury resistance.