Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what steps his Department is taking to help (a) homeless and (b) disabled young people to seek employment.

Homelessness can act as a significant barrier to gaining and sustaining employment. DWP helps people experiencing homelessness to move towards work through tailored and place-based work coach support – a commitment outlined in the new cross-government National Plan to End Homelessness. This includes specialist employment support for people with complex needs through the new Connect to Work programme, and a new Jobs and Careers Service that will enable work coaches to focus more on individuals with the greatest barriers to work.

The plan also commits to addressing the ‘work disincentive’ that can affect young people in supported accommodation, ensuring work pays and enabling residents to enter or progress in employment without facing financial barriers.

The Department further supports homeless young people to move towards employment through Youth Hubs, which provide community‑based, wrap‑around employment support for 16–24‑year‑olds. As part of the core Youth Hub service blueprint, Hubs work with local partners to provide access to housing and homelessness advice alongside employment, skills and health support, recognising that housing insecurity is a significant barrier to work.

The Government is also taking action to help young disabled people move towards work. Disabled young people are a diverse group, so it is key that the individual gets access to the right work and health support, in the right place, at the right time, for them.

The Youth Guarantee and Pathways to Work will guarantee specialist support for disabled young people.

At the Budget, we have announced an £820 million funding package for the Youth Guarantee to support young people to earn or learn. Over the next three years nearly 900,000 16–24-year-olds will be offered a dedicated session with a Work Coach, followed by four weeks of additional intensive support. We will also expand our network of Youth Hubs to more than 360 areas across Great Britain. This investment will create around 300,000 more opportunities to gain workplace experience and training. In addition, it will provide guaranteed jobs to around 55,000 young people aged 18-21 through the Jobs Guarantee.

Alongside the Youth Guarantee, the Pathways to Work Green Paper sets out our plans for the Pathways to Work offer. Backed by £1 billion a year of new funding by the end of the decade, building towards a guaranteed offer of personalised work, health and skills support for all disabled people and those with health conditions on out of work benefits. We anticipate that the Pathways to Work offer once fully rolled out will include a support conversation to identify next steps, one-to-one caseworker support, periodic engagement and an offer of specialist long-term work health and skills support.

Youth Guarantee and Pathways to Work will build on the range of support already available to disabled people, regardless of their benefit status or Work Group. For example, Connect to Work a supported employment programme that joins up work skills and health support, and Employment Advisers in NHS Talking Therapies, which combine the expertise of therapists and employment advisers to give those with mental health conditions the support they need to find work tailored to them. Additionally, disabled people might be able to access WorkWell, which is our new way to deliver integrated work and health support through local partnerships.

Finally, we are considering how we might go even further. The Right Honourable Alan Milburn is leading on an investigation of the rise in youth inactivity with a particular focus on the impact of mental health conditions and disability and expected to report in Summer 2026.