Young people ‘expected’ to engage with new work support, says McFadden

Andy Burnham (centre-right) and Pat McFadden (centre) meet some young people during a visit to Alstom Transport in Derby on Tuesday. Photograph: Temilade Adelaja/PA View image in fullscreen Andy Burnham (centre-right) and Pat McFadden (centre) meet some young people during a visit to Alstom Transport in Derby on Tuesday. Photograph: Temilade Adelaja/PA Young people ‘expected’ to engage with new work support, says McFadden Exclusive: Work and pensions secretary echoes Andy Burnham as he unveils funds to stop families in England losing benefits UK politics live – latest updates Young people will be expected to engage with new support to seek work, Pat McFadden has said, as he unveiled new funds to stop families losing benefits when teenagers take up apprenticeships. Speaking to the Guardian, the work and pensions secretary echoed the comments of Andy Burnham when he suggested that access to support would be conditional on young people properly participating in the support that would be provided. “We have an obligation to put good support in place,” he said. “And then there is an expectation that people engage with the support.” McFadden – one of the few ministers to keep his job in the reshuffle when Burnham became prime minister – said the new bursary would compensate for a quirk in the system that could mean families lose some benefits if a teenager took up an apprenticeship. The penalty – where the family loses the child component of universal credit – is most likely to affect single parents or disabled teenagers under 18. The policy is the second key announcement from Burnham as he seeks to address the crisis of mounting unemployment among young people – after stating on Tuesday morning he would seek fundamental changes in the education system to emphasise technical and vocational skills, especially those relevant to local businesses. Both Burnham and McFadden have said they are also determined to reform the welfare system, especially by providing more opportunities for young people on long-term sickness benefits to return to the workforce. The prime minister also said on Monday he wanted to change the nature of the support and make some of it “conditional upon people taking opportunities that are presented in front of them … So you might increase the conditions required to receive benefits”. McFadden said the bursary was part of removing those unintended barriers on young people taking up work – £30m funded through the current departmental budget – but added it was crucial that young people responded to the support on offer. “The key to it is to remove this barrier to opportunity really,” he said. “And to stop people being trapped in the benefit system when they would otherwise take up an opportunity which is in their interest, which would put them on to the next step of a career path. “These cliff edges are never created by design, they’re just in a big complex system, they are just there and I’m very grateful to the charities and campaigners