Last Tuesday, 3rd November 2026, MPs debated Alan Milburn’s interim report on young people and work in Westminster Hall. Leading the debate was Andrew Ranger MP. Around 20 backbenchers contributed, alongside Lilian Greenwood MP, Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State at the Department for Work and Pensions. Edge briefed several MPs beforehand, including Ranger, and Ian Sollom MP. Given the scale of the problem, the tone was one of urgency. As Lilian Greenwood MP highlighted, there is no single cause of rising economic inactivity among young people. The response, then, must be “comprehensive and co-ordinated across education, health, welfare, skills, employers and employment services”. Exactly the system change Milburn is calling for.
Edge Foundation’s view is that routes into work are shaped long before young people leave school. Our Young Lives, Young Futures research also found nearly 50% of 15 to 16-year-olds see school as something to “get through”, while a narrow academic curriculum and high-stakes assessment at 16 leave too many behind. MPs largely agreed. Andrew Ranger noted that 67% of NEET young people say the curriculum did not prepare them for work, and called for careers education to start far earlier. He cited research showing children’s ideas about what they can achieve are formed by age seven – so they should meet people from the world of work early on. The debate did not examine the accountability system’s impact on what schools offer, particularly from 14 to 16. The tools for reform already exist, but will remain marginal while league table measures reward a narrow range of academic subjects. For instance, as the interim Milburn report itself states, Key Stage 4 Technical Awards account for just 6% of grades awarded, even though 69% of school leaders say they better prepare some students for post-16 pathways. The same is true of other vocational and creative options – schools need a real incentive to offer them.
Through our Apprenticeships Work campaign, Edge has shown that SMEs are essential to an effective youth employment strategy. They account for 60% of UK employment but just 37% of apprenticeship starts – down from 54% before the levy was introduced. With 80% of small businesses that recruited apprentices in the last three years hiring 16 to 24-year-olds, this matters for young people. Ian Sollom MP said that a large employer can absorb the risk of a young recruit, while a small firm often cannot. He proposed skills co-operatives so that SMEs can pool training and pastoral support, two burdens that often hold them back. Gareth Snell MP noted some additional barriers that prevent small businesses taking young people on, such as rules around provider registration.
Lilian Greenwood MP outlined some of the steps government is already taking to support employers, including the Youth Jobs Grant, Apprenticeship Hiring Payments, and NICS exceptions. However, financial incentives only work if employers know about them, and many don’t – polling by Edge and the REC found only 34% of SMEs were aware of the NICs waiver for under-25 apprentices, and 45% of hiring payments. But 68% of employers also said brokerage-style support would be a decisive or encouraging factor in whether they chose to hire an apprentice, ranking far above financial incentives. Brokerage did not come up explicitly during the debate, but several speakers, including Darren Paffey MP, called for sustained funding for local programmes. Edge believes locally-delivered, centrally-funded brokerage is part of that conversation
Local delivery was a common theme. Patrick Hurley MP called for local areas to have “the freedom and resources they need to bring together colleges, employers, job centres, health services, and community organisations, to design support around the people who need it”. Andrew Ranger closed by calling for a “whole-system approach”. Edge’s Breaking Barriers report, produced with FE News, echoes this. Reducing youth disengagement requires system change, not another initiative.
When the final Milburn report lands, on Tuesday 17 November we understand, Edge will be looking for recommendations in all these areas. Crucially, the government already has many of the policy levers it needs at its disposal. The final report will test its readiness to act.
