Pat McFadden urges Labour to reshape welfare support for young people
The work and pensions secretary called for more support into work as two reviews approach completion, but announced no change to benefit payments or eligibility.
Pat McFadden urged Labour on 27 September to reshape welfare support around helping young people into work, telling the party it would face decisions after two reviews report. The work and pensions secretary announced no change to benefit payments or eligibility in his conference speech, leaving young disabled claimants without a specific proposal to assess.
McFadden described the effort as a moral crusade and asked Labour to move from asking what benefit someone is entitled to towards asking how the system could help them live a fuller life. He said the financial and human costs of the current approach were too high, while promising security and dignity for people who can never work.
What is under review
The decisions McFadden referred to depend in part on Alan Milburn’s review of young people and a separate review of Personal Independence Payment led by Sir Stephen Timms. McFadden said both would report shortly, but his speech set out no new entitlement rule, payment level, assessment test or legislative timetable.
The Guardian reported that some younger claimants with less severe conditions who could be supported into work may face reduced benefits. It presented that as a possible implication of the Milburn review, rather than an agreed government measure. Whether payments will change, and for whom, remains undecided in the material published so far.
Milburn’s interim report, published in May, is a diagnosis of the barriers young people face. The Department for Work and Pensions describes it as the discovery phase of a two-stage review, with potential reforms to be explored next. The report argues that people with severe or enduring disabilities need financial security, while those able to participate with support should have better routes into work and learning.
In a July Commons statement, Timms said his review’s interim findings on PIP were emerging themes, neither recommendations nor government policy. He said PIP was widely valued, but the review considered it no longer fit for purpose; claimants had described assessments as stressful and dehumanising. According to Timms, disabled people and experts were involved in the review, and its call for evidence drew more than 38,000 responses.
PIP helps cover additional costs associated with disability. It is not means-tested and does not depend on employment status, the Guardian reported. That distinction matters when considering a speech centred on employment: a call to help more young people work does not itself specify a change to PIP entitlement.
The figures behind the debate
Health is part of the review’s diagnosis. It says the proportion of young people who say they are outside education, employment or training due to a work-limiting health condition has risen by 70% over the past decade. That finding describes a reported reason for being outside work or education; it does not establish that receiving benefits causes that outcome.
The review also reports that 84% of young people surveyed who were outside education, employment or training wanted a job, education or training. It says only around one in five in England receive meaningful employment support through the benefits system. Those findings underpin Milburn’s argument for more effective help, alongside continued protection for people who cannot work.
McFadden pointed to the government’s existing Youth Guarantee and said young disabled people would gain access to its six-month paid Jobs Guarantee after three months from next April. He described that as a way to provide work with support. His speech did not say that access to the scheme would depend on surrendering a disability benefit.
A separate Nuffield Trust analysis, published on 22 September, found that just over 205,400 people aged 16 to 24 received PIP for ADHD- or autism-linked disabilities in April 2026, more than three times the 2019 number. It estimated the cost at £1.36bn in 2025–26. Those figures describe a change in claims; they do not show why individual claims rose or what would happen under a future policy.
Decisions still to come
The politics of any proposed change are sensitive. The Guardian reported that the government abandoned a £5bn-a-year disability-benefit cuts programme in 2025 after a rebellion by Labour MPs. That precedent helps explain why McFadden appealed directly to his party, but it does not establish that the current reviews will recommend similar cuts.
The Guardian expects the government to consider a new system and assessment process after the reviews, potentially requiring legislation. Neither McFadden’s speech nor the interim review material sets out a settled design or timetable. The immediate development is his call for Labour to back a change of approach; the practical consequences for young claimants will depend on recommendations and decisions that have yet to be published.
Sources and context
- Changing UK benefits for young people a ‘moral crusade’, says ministerThe Guardian
- Pat McFadden sets out plans to put work and opportunity at heart of welfare – his speech in fullLabourList
- Young people and work: interim reportDepartment for Work and Pensions / Alan Milburn review
- Timms Review: Interim ReportUK Parliament (Hansard), statement by Sir Stephen Timms
- PIP for ADHD and autism: a weakening link with deprivation?Nuffield Trust
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