Burnham Vows to Change Benefit Eligibility for Young People

Andy Burnham pledged to change benefit eligibility for young people and invest in more mental health and employment support as part of efforts to reduce the UK’s ballooning welfare bill.

The UK prime minister said a “wholesale change” is need in the way Britain looks after its young people, so that the government is “investing in their success rather than paying for failure.”

“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,” Burnham told Times Radio on Friday. “It’s not good for them.”

Burnham’s administration is under growing pressure to make cuts to a welfare bill that the Office for Budget Responsibility projects will balloon to £431 billion ($576 billion) in 2031-32 from £334 billion last tax year.

Former Labour minister Alan Milburn is due to publish a long-running review into youth unemployment in the coming weeks. that document will take in what additional community, health and educational support young people need, Burnham said. He said “there will be a need to invest up front in young people.” but that in time, there would be a “crossover point” and “in time, the savings will come.”

Last week Chancellor of the Exchequer John Healey said he would not bring the UK’s welfare bill down during this Parliament. A Treasury official said the welfare bill would come down in 2030-31, after the next general election, which is due in 2029.

The government’s response to Milburn’s policy recommendations will necessitate “changes to benefits and eligibility,” Burnham said. He promised more details about his approach on the matter would be included in his 10-year-plan, which had been due before the end of the year but may now slip to early 2027.

Asked where he would find the money for the upfront investment, Burnham said: “It is going to be difficult. I’m not going to pretend otherwise, but we will reprioritize, and we will find funding to build our response to the Milburn review.”

“It’s not paying for benefits, it’s paying for opportunity to bring the benefit bill down in the long run,” the premier said. “I will not go down a path here of the crude cuts that we’ve seen in the past, where we’re just chasing a number. In the end, that will lead to us paying even more on crisis support for young people.”