Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, pursuant to his Department’s press release entitled Major employment drive to help unlock 200,000 new jobs and apprenticeships for next generation, published on 16 March 2026, what estimate he has made of the number of young people aged 18–24 who have been claiming Universal Credit for six months or more and would therefore be eligible for the Youth Jobs Grant scheme.

The Youth Jobs Grant is specifically targeted at young people because of the risk of lifelong scarring impacts of extended unemployment at a young age and to support the Government’s commitment to reducing the number of young people not in education, employment or training.

The Youth Jobs Grant is designed to help employers with the early costs of hiring eligible young people. The first payment will not be made until after we’ve had confirmation through other sources that the young person has been employed, and the final payment will not be made until after several months of employment to encourage retention. As with all our employment programmes, we will monitor delivery to ensure the Grant is being used as intended, which is to expand opportunities for young people who need help to enter the labour market.

We estimate there are 200,000 young people eligible for the Youth Jobs Grant now, and we expect to support 60,000 young people with this over three years. We are also expanding the Jobs Guarantee to a wider age range, from 18-21 to 18-24, to create more than 35,000 extra subsidised jobs. This brings the total to be supported through the scheme to over 90,000 in the next three years.

The Youth Jobs Grant is available to employers in all sectors across Great Britain. The roles supported will depend on employers’ hiring needs rather than sector specific targets. We expect more take up in sectors that traditionally recruit young people, such as retail, hospitality, health and social care, logistics and construction, alongside opportunities in growth sectors including digital, engineering and green technologies.

The purpose of the Grant is to help young people into work by reducing the upfront costs of hiring, and it has been designed using evidence from previous schemes in the UK and wider international practice. As with all new programmes, we will monitor delivery and evaluate outcomes, including employment sustainment, once the scheme is in operation.

Further practical details on how employers will claim the Grant will be set out in guidance ahead of the scheme launching.