One in three graduates who’re out of labor and claiming advantages say poor well being is stopping them from discovering employment, as new evaluation highlights mounting concern over the worth of some college levels and the UK’s strategy to abilities coaching.
Analysis by the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) exhibits that 707,000 graduates are actually claiming advantages, a 46 per cent enhance since 2019. Of these, round 240,000 cited well being issues as the principle cause they had been unable to work in 2025, up from 117,000 earlier than the pandemic.
The findings come in opposition to a backdrop of rising financial inactivity amongst younger folks. Authorities knowledge signifies there are nearly 950,000 folks not in training, employment or coaching (Neets), with the CSJ reporting that 80 per cent of benefit-claiming graduates underneath the age of 30 level to health-related points.
The image is especially stark amongst 16- to 24-year-olds who’re out of labor. Solely 34 per cent maintain {qualifications} at A degree or above, whereas round 30 per cent have GCSE-level {qualifications} and 36 per cent have {qualifications} beneath GCSE or of unknown degree.
The evaluation has intensified scrutiny of levels with low incomes potential. In keeping with the CSJ, some performing arts graduates from establishments together with the Conservatoire for Dance and Drama and College of Wales Trinity Saint David earned lower than £20,000 5 years after graduating. Psychology graduates from College of Suffolk and the College of Bolton earned underneath £21,000 over the identical interval.
In a report printed in December, the CSJ urged ministers to “cease churning out graduates and begin coaching employees”, arguing that vocational routes provide stronger outcomes for a lot of younger folks.
Its evaluation discovered that higher-level apprenticeships constantly outperform levels in earnings phrases. Whereas the lowest-paid quarter of graduates earned £24,800 5 years after ending college, these finishing degree 2 apprenticeships earned £24,810, rising to £28,260 for degree 3 apprenticeships. Larger-level apprenticeships, together with roles resembling accounting technicians, little one therapists and community engineers, delivered common earnings of £37,300.
Comparable conclusions have been reached by the Decision Basis, which discovered that the graduate wage premium has steadily eroded. Twenty years in the past, graduates earned round 2.5 occasions the minimal wage; by 2023 that determine had fallen to 1.6 occasions.
The CSJ additionally highlighted the UK’s heavy reliance on college routes in contrast with European friends. For each three younger folks coming into college in Britain, just one pursues vocational coaching. Within the Netherlands the ratio is two-to-one, whereas in Germany it’s one-to-one.
The findings place renewed strain on Keir Starmer, who mentioned final yr that the UK’s advantages system was “damaged” and that reform was a “ethical crucial”. The federal government initially aimed to avoid wasting £5 billion by tightening eligibility for Private Independence Fee (PIP) and different health-related advantages, however these plans had been delayed after opposition from Labour backbenchers.
The variety of folks claiming PIP continues to rise, with round 3.9 million recipients in October 2024, 200,000 greater than in the beginning of the yr. The Division for Work and Pensions forecasts that 8.7 million folks will probably be claiming disability-related advantages by the beginning of the following decade, up from slightly below 7 million immediately.
Former Labour cupboard minister Alan Milburn, who’s main a government-commissioned assessment into youth inactivity, warned final week of a “misplaced technology” of virtually a million folks aged 16 to 24 who’re neither working nor learning. He argued that successive governments had prioritised insurance policies benefiting older generations, leaving Britain going through a “ethical, social and financial disaster”.
A authorities spokesperson mentioned ministers had been decided to help younger folks into work, pointing to a brand new jobs assure and £1.5 billion of funding in apprenticeships and coaching.
“We’re serving to younger people who find themselves out of labor into paid placements, with employers resembling E.ON, JD Sports activities, Tesco and TUI already pledged,” the spokesperson mentioned. “We’ve additionally commissioned Alan Milburn to get to the foundation of what’s holding younger folks again, as a result of this challenge calls for pressing motion.”
The CSJ argues that and not using a decisive shift away from low-value levels and in direction of vocational and technical coaching, the variety of graduates unable to search out work, and reliant on advantages, will proceed to rise.
