Minister backs legal right to job support for young people

The work and pensions secretary has backed the idea that the government should legally guarantee young people help to get into employment.

Pat McFadden told the BBC that job support should be given a "legislative underpinning", adding the level of assistance on offer was currently "vague".

It comes ahead of a long-awaited review - set to be published on Tuesday - by former Labour cabinet minister Alan Milburn, which will say that under-25s should be guaranteed job placements or training to help them find permanent work.

Milburn is also expected to recommend that some young people should see their entitlement to claim benefits reduced, to free up funding for the new system.

Speaking to Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Milburn said he wanted a major shift in the ratio of spending on benefits versus employment support.

He has previously put this figure at about £25 is spent on benefits verses every £1 spent on employment support - a ratio he said he wants to see move to £2 to £1.

He added that there should be a new "duty on government" to provide young people with opportunities including apprenticeships, college places, job coaching, or a job.

This should be accompanied, he added, by "more obligations on their part to take up that opportunity".

Asked on the same programme whether he agreed with the idea, McFadden said: "I do think we need some legislative underpinning to this."

He added that the offer of support "needs to be more firm," adding: "People need more certainty about what they are entitled to."

It comes as the government announced it will further widen eligibly for its scheme that offers jobless under-25s subsidised six-month job roles on the minimum wage.

From next April, eligible claimants will be offered a role after 12 months of unsuccessfully looking for work, rather 18 currently.

It is the second time that eligibility for the scheme has been widened, after the maximum age was increased from 21 to 24 earlier this year.