The Future of Youth Sickness Benefits Might be Changing

Prime Minister Andy Burnham could be changing youth sickness benefits if his proposed plan goes through. 

In an effort to both help the country's £333 billion welfare bill and to make more money for defense and social care, over 430,000 people aged 16 - 24 might see their sickness benefits taken away if they are not doing training or voluntary work. 

This scheme is modeled after a similar one in the Netherlands, with Burnham saying: “It’s about changing the nature of the support and making some of the support conditional upon people taking opportunities that are presented in front of them.” 

At the moment this is just a proposal, more details about whether or not this will materialise are to come over the next week or so. 

Written by Jorja Flitcroft