Britain is paying the price for failing to invest in its young people | Richard Partington
Writing for the Guardian, Richard Partington argues that Britain is now reaping the consequences of years of underinvestment in young people, as highlighted by Alan Milburn's review into youth unemployment. He contends that austerity-era cuts to education, youth services and family support have left a generation disillusioned, with only one in four young people believing society offers a fair chance, and around a million now not in education, employment or training (Neet).
The piece details how spending on youth services in England has fallen 76%, a loss of £1.3bn, alongside 14 years of frozen per-pupil school funding and a quarter's collapse in school building investment. It notes that for every £1 spent on employment support for young people, £25 goes on benefits, and that scrapping Sure Start shifted costs from prevention to crisis management, with spending on looked-after children rising by more than half. The author calls for a "preventive state" that invests early rather than firefighting problems later.
- Austerity-era cuts blamed for rising youth unemployment and Neet numbers
- Youth services funding down 76%, school spending frozen 14 years
- £25 spent on benefits for every £1 on youth employment support
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The wider backdrop is more than a decade of "austerity" – a period of reduced public spending following the 2008 financial crisis – during which funding for schools, youth clubs and family services was cut or frozen. Neet is a standard term used in UK policy for young people "not in education, employment or training," a group whose size is watched as an indicator of how well the system is helping people into adulthood and work.
This matters because decisions about where governments spend money – on prevention early in life versus dealing with crises later – shape both public finances and the opportunities available to a generation of young people. The debate touches on schools policy, welfare spending and children's services, all of which are currently subject to political and budgetary pressure in Britain.