DWP Extends Jobs Guarantee to 90,000 on Universal Credit

The Government is to extend its Jobs Guarantee scheme across all of Great Britain, a policy decision that will entitle more than 90,000 young people claiming Universal Credit to a fully funded six-month job placement, and one that arrives days before a landmark ministerial review reports on the causes of rising youth inactivity.

The expansion, announced by the Department for Work and Pensions, follows a successful trial in six areas with some of the highest levels of youth unemployment: Birmingham and Solihull, the East Midlands, Greater Manchester, Hertfordshire and Essex, Central and East Scotland, and South East and South West Wales. From the end of November, the guarantee will apply in every part of England, Scotland and Wales, covering eligible 18 to 24 year olds who are claiming Universal Credit and looking for work.

Accountability for the policy sits squarely with the Work and Pensions Secretary, Pat McFadden, who framed the change as a correction to a system that has left young people waiting too long for help. “The longer someone is out of work, the harder it is to get back in, and no young person should be left waiting on a scrapheap for an opportunity,” he said. “That is why we are expanding our guaranteed jobs scheme across Great Britain and bringing it forward, so that help arrives when it matters most.”

The timing matters. Earlier this year Mr McFadden commissioned Alan Milburn to investigate why so many young people are neither earning nor learning, with the final report expected this week. The Government is preparing its response to the Milburn Review, and the expansion of the Jobs Guarantee can be read as the first institutional move in what officials describe as a new settlement: earlier intervention, real opportunities in education, training and work, and a clear expectation that young people take them up wherever they can.

The review is expected to conclude that the answer to the economic and moral failure of almost one million young people being out of education, employment or training is not crude cuts to support but getting more young people into work. The Prime Minister has underlined his ambition to fundamentally reshape how young people are supported, and the Government’s response will also set out how services are to be rewired around young people, bringing employment, skills, health and wider support together locally. The Rewiring the State Delivery Plan will set out how devolution will be used to put more power in the hands of local leaders to join up services, delivering the system reform called for by Mr Milburn.

The mechanics of the scheme are defined by clear eligibility rules and funding commitments. The Government fully funds up to 25 hours of paid work a week for six months at the relevant minimum wage, with roles matched to each person’s skills and tailored pre-employment and in-work support provided. Currently, young people out of work for 18 months are referred by their work coach to a local delivery partner. From April 2027, that threshold falls to 12 months, meaning help arrives sooner. From the same date, young people receiving the health element of Universal Credit will be able to take part on a voluntary basis, a change the Government says reflects a commitment to supporting those with a health condition or disability rather than assuming they cannot participate.

Delivery is shared between the state and contracted partners. Local authorities and mayors helped select delivery partners, and more than 400 employers have backed the scheme, including Lidl, Leonardo Hotels and Boots. The Jobs Guarantee is the final step in a wider package: from day one, young people are supported by a work coach, can attend Youth Guarantee Jobs Fairs and access mental health, housing and CV advice through Youth Hubs. After six months without work, roles funded through a £3,000 employer hiring payment become available, and after 12 months a guaranteed job follows. The wider employment support programme is backed by £2.5 billion of investment intended to reach almost one million young people and create 500,000 opportunities.

The Government has warned that too many young people have been written off by a system that leaves them disconnected from work, contributing to long-term poverty, poorer health outcomes and lower life chances. Whether the expanded guarantee, and the response to the Milburn Review that follows, delivers on that diagnosis will now be the test by which the policy is judged.