Benefit parents could be paid to push their jobless teens into work

See more Daily Mail on Google - save us as a Preferred SourceBy DAVID WILCOCK, DEPUTY POLITICAL EDITOR Published: 10:49 BST, 25 May 2026 | Updated: 10:58 BST, 25 May 2026

Parents on benefits could get their cash topped up to encourage them to make their own jobless teenagers sign up for apprenticeships under plans to tackle the UK's worklessness epidemic.Ministers are considering bursaries for families with 16 and 17-year-olds to offset a drop in welfare payments, sometimes hundreds of pounds a week, that kick in when they start work.It is part of a range of ideas being explored alongside a major review of youth unemployment by former minister Alan Milburn this week.The former Labour Cabinet minister said the state has failed young people in a 'shameful' way by 'transporting them into the world of benefits' rather than helping them find work. The most recent figures showed almost a million people aged 16 to 24 in the UK were classified as not in education, employment or training (Neet) in October to December 2025.The drop in benefit payments was highlighted last month by the Social Security Advisory Committee, which said it was 'a financial deterrent for young people from families on benefits pursuing apprenticeships'.It warned that when a young person leaves full‑time education to start an apprenticeship, families can face 'substantial losses' of welfare payments that 'can reach levels that no realistic apprenticeship wage can offset'.