EXCLUSIVE: Pat McFadden spoke exclusively to the Record about the UK Government’s drive to help young people into work.
The Scot tasked by Keir Starmer to reform the welfare system says getting young people off benefits and into work is the “cause of our times”. Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden said tackling youth unemployment had a class element as he announced work support for up to 60,000 Scots.
McFadden was handed the major Cabinet role in the wake of the UK Government dumping their original plans for welfare reform. The MP, who was born in Paisley, was in Glasgow on Friday to roll out plans to help young people who are not in education, employment, or training (NEETS).
One study suggested one in six young Scots fall into this category. Speaking to the Record, McFadden said of this figure: “It’s a terrible human story and it’s also expensive for the state, and I think we can do better and give young people a better offer.”
Central to his plan is offering young people training, work experience, intensive coaching or a subsidised job if they’re still out of work after 18 months. McFadden said the intervention is designed to stop young people “coming out of education and graduating onto benefits.”
He said: “For each young person this happens to, if they don’t get into work, it can cost them over a million pounds in lost earnings throughout their life, and it will cost the state a similar amount to support. The best welfare reform package we could possibly do is to stop young people going onto benefits in the first place and that’s the whole idea behind a youth guarantee.”
He added: “I think young people can feel some justification and feel they’ve been let down and ignored, and I want to change that. The youth guarantee is an expression of belief in young people as well. It’s a backing for them and I think this issue is a cause of our times.”
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It is estimated that almost 60,000 young Scots on Universal Credit and looking for work will benefit from the employment support.
Asked if believes it is also a class issue, he said: “Yes, I do. That’s why I said it’s an issue of inequality as well as lost opportunity. And that’s why I think this is more than a sterile government programme.
“It’s about saying to people you should not be trapped by your circumstances, that you should be able to change the arc of your life.”
He said of benefit sanctions: “I get asked a lot about sanctions and the circumstances in which that will happen.
“And when I talk to the work coaches who work in the job centre, they don’t want to do that. They don’t do that at a drop of a hat, and it will only happen when somebody persistently refuses to take part.”
McFadden also spoke about the looming Holyrood election and Scottish Labour leader Anas Sarwar: “I’m a huge admirer of Anas. I think he’s the best Scottish Labour leader we’ve had for some time. And I’ll be supporting him and the Scottish Labour Party all the way in the forthcoming election.
“He’s very positive, he lights up a room when he comes in, he wants to make things happen.”
He was also asked about the SNP’s huge poll lead over Labour and whether this has been caused by the struggles of the UK Government:
“When I look at the polls, I think constantly of the recent Hamilton by-election, where Scottish Labour was written off. Nobody gave Scottish Labour a cat’s chance in hell of winning that by-election, but there is now a Labour MSP for that seat, and in Anas and this Scottish Labour team, they are fighters.
“I think in a way they will revel in being written off because they will want to fight against the odds and they will want to prove that they can defy expectations.”
