Cutting welfare to pay for work support is all wrong

‘Framing welfare as something that plunges young people into a life on benefits ignores the fact that nearly half of Neets do not claim benefits.’ Photograph: Iryna Melnyk/Getty Images

Alan Milburn correctly identifies that the nation’s 1 million young people not in education, employment, or training (Neet) represent a crisis of “youth detachment” deeply intertwined with mental ill health (Cut benefits to fund work support for young people, says Neet review author Alan Milburn, 18 October).

However, his proposal to cut welfare benefits to fund employment support both misdiagnoses the problem and points to a solution that will worsen it.