Rachel Reeves’ jobs guarantee has been presented as a turning point for Britain’s young people. Under the plan, anyone aged 18-24 who has been out of work or education for 18 months will be offered a paid job placement. Refuse it without a ‘good reason’, and benefits will be withdrawn.
Reeves calls it ‘the end of long-term youth unemployment.’ To her, it’s a symbol of fairness — a government that expects effort but provides opportunity. Yet for those working on the frontline of youth employment, the question isn’t whether the policy is innovative enough. It’s whether it understands the people it’s meant to serve.
The guarantee sits at the heart of Labour’s ‘Get Britain Working’ plan, part of a broader youth guarantee intended to re-engage young people before they turn into long-term NEET (not in education, employment, or training).
McFadden: ‘This Time Will Be Different’
Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden has promised that this time will be different, stating it’s his ‘first priority’ to get youth to work. This initiative draws comparisons to previous efforts like the 2009 Future Jobs Fund and the more recent Kickstart scheme. Both aimed at providing job opportunities to young people, but with varying degrees of success.
But behind that simplicity lies a difficult truth. Those who remain out of work for 18 months are rarely just unmotivated. They’re often living with health problems, unstable housing, debt, or caring responsibilities.
In fact, recent studies have indicated that about one-third of NEET youth struggle with mental health issues, highlighting the intersection of health and employability. Without personalised help, a job guarantee could feel more like an ultimatum than a chance.
Youth unemployment in Britain remains stubbornly high, with recent data from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) showing that 948,000 16-24-year-olds were not in education, employment, or training (NEET) in the UK in April to June 2025. Signaling an era of the so-called NEET generation.
Many of whom struggle to afford travel to interviews or training, while others drop out of job schemes that offer little support or progression. Charities warn that the system too often treats young people as problems to fix rather than potential to nurture — and that without sustained investment in skills, mental health, and meaningful work, a generation risks being left behind.
Reeves’ Plan
Laura-Jane Rawlings, founder and CEO of Youth Employment UKhas spent over a decade advocating for governments to address youth unemployment as a systemic issue, rather than a personal failing. She welcomes the ambition of Reeves’ plan — but warns it will fail unless it recognises the complexity of young people’s lives.
‘The young people who reach that 18-month point are likely to have complex barriers — health, disability, housing, care experience, or criminal justice issues’, she says, in a statement to IBTimes UK. ‘The government needs to recognise those challenges and design the jobs guarantee in a supportive way.’
Rawlings explains that the guarantee is only one part of what should be a ‘whole journey of support.’ She added, ‘The idea is that by the time someone has been NEET for 18 months, they’ve already had a lot of opportunities — careers advice, work experience, mentoring…The real goal should be to reach them long before that point.’
She points out that after just six months of being NEET, young people are already at risk of what she calls ‘long-term scarring’ — the emotional and economic damage that can last for years. ‘We can’t wait until the 18-month mark to act’, she says. ‘We need to help young people move into a positive destination before that. Otherwise, the barriers only grow.’
‘We Can’t Wait Until the 18-Month Mark to Act’
In Tooting, Felicia Mattis-Rome, CEO of Business Launchpad, has seen how quickly those barriers harden when support is replaced by punishment.
Before joining the charity, she worked as a case manager helping the long-term unemployed back into work. That experience, she says, left her wary of sanction-based policies. ‘Rather than motivating young people, sanctions often worsened outcomes’, she says. ‘They compounded financial hardship, undermined confidence, and created additional barriers to re-engagement.’
At Business Launchpad, many of the young people she supports are from marginalised or low-income backgrounds. ‘Financial insecurity, mental-health struggles, and discrimination are everyday realities’, she added. ‘They’re not choosing unemployment — they’re trying to navigate obstacles most policymakers never face.’
Mattis-Rome supports the principle of a jobs guarantee, but only if it’s meaningful, flexible, and linked to real progression routes. ‘If a young person can’t take a placement because of childcare, health, or transport issues, they shouldn’t be penalised’, she says. ‘Sanctions tend to entrench disadvantage rather than solve it.’
Her view is simple — ‘Sanctions don’t build futures. If a youth work guarantee is to succeed, it must be about genuine opportunity, tailored support, and pathways that empower young people to thrive.’
Employers Must Be Part of the Solution
Rawlings agrees that the burden can’t fall solely on young people. Employers, she says, must be part of the solution — but they’ll need help to make that happen. ‘Both the young person and the employer are going to need support to make these placements work’, she explains. ‘Line-manager training, wraparound support, mentoring — these are the things that will turn a short-term job into a long-term opportunity.’
She suggests prioritising employers already experienced with disadvantaged groups, such as councils, schools, and voluntary organisations. However, she also wants to see government incentives make it easier for small businesses to participate.
‘Employers can already hire young people and benefit from no National Insurance contributions’, she notes. ‘If apprenticeships are involved, there are bursaries available for extra support. We just need to bring these elements together.’
Mattis-Rome says that many local employers are willing to step up — if they’re treated as partners, not service providers. ‘They need reassurance, guidance, and recognition for their effort’, she says. ‘Government has to work with them, not simply expect them to absorb the costs.’
Jobs Guarantee Must Be Rooted in Understanding, Not Punishment
Even with goodwill, experts question whether the jobs guarantee can deliver on its scale. Tom Richmond, director of think tank EDSK, has described the plan as ‘little more than a wrapper for existing initiatives.’ According to FE Week, it may affect only one in twenty young people currently out of work, in education, or in training.
Both Rawlings and Mattis-Rome agree that the jobs guarantee has potential — but only if it’s rooted in understanding, not punishment. ‘It could be transformational if it builds confidence and skills’, says Mattis-Rome. ‘But if it focuses on compliance, it risks repeating the mistakes of the past.’
Rawlings echoes the sentiment, ‘Hope and opportunity have to come first. Pressure alone never gets results.’
The real test for Reeves’ guarantee won’t be how tough it sounds, but whether it can rebuild trust — between young people who’ve lost faith in the system, the employers asked to take a chance on them, and the state that says it’s on their side.
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