Here’s how you can stop the DWP ruining young people’s lives

The Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) seem hellbent on ruining young people’s lives. With the introduction of the Youth guarantee alongside plans to stop under 22’s being eligible for Universal Credit.  Luckily, there’s a couple of things everyone can do to stop them.

DWP ruining disabled people’s lives, again

As the Canary previously reported, the DWP is trying to prove young people are faking disabilities for benefits, again. The department is currently overseeing an independent investigation into ‘rising youth inactivity’. This claims to be looking at why young people are not in employment, education or training (NEET).

However, it’s being run by former health secretary Alan Milburn, who in 2024 authored a report which wanted disabled people to be pushed into work. The report called for the government to cut benefits except for those with “severe disabilities”. This was, of course, adopted as part of the Universal Credit Act last summer.

Looking specifically at this report, Milburn vaguely tries to call kids with mental health problem fakers. The release also claimed they would “analyse trends”, playing into that kids see others with ADHD on Tiktok so want it too.

Then, in the Terms of Reference, it was spelt out fully

To investigate the root causes of this rise in economic inactivity among disabled young people and those with health conditions

The announcement also said the department would seek to

take a holistic view of the welfare, health, skills and employment system and identify areas for reform

Which lines up very well with Rachel Reeves plan to force young people into low-skilled, low-paying work via apprenticeships.

How you can stop Milburn

However, there is a call for evidence for the report. The call for evidence is for anyone but they say they especially want to hear from young people and specifically disabled kids. They also want to hear from parents and carers, employers, services that support young people and academics. Scarily though they also want to hear from think-tanks.

Since this DWP report seems like a foregone conclusion, the questions are vague. It doesn’t specifically mention disabled kids, despite that being a huge focus point. So it’s vital as many people speak up for disabled kids as possible.

The questions they want you to answer are:

1. What is stopping more young people from participating in employment, education or training?

2. What would make the biggest difference to support more young people to participate?

They’ve also given some areas of guidance, but we recommend you massively think about how disabled kids would be affected in all of this

• the changing nature of the labour market and work
• any changes in the aspirations and attitudes of young people and employers
• changes in health trends (particularly mental health and neuro-developmental conditions)
• the alignment between the skills and experience young people have and those that employers are seeking
• the benefits and employment support systems
• transition points between different elements of the benefits, employment, health, education and skills systems
• childhood factors
• community and place

You can submit your evidence to [email protected]. The call for evidence is open until 30 January 2026.

A second, hopefully more compassionate review

Alongside this, the Commons Work and Pensions Committee (WPC) have set up their own inquiry into the topic. The WPC are usually the ones holding the DWP to account. So whilst the Milburn review seems like its being ran to justify cuts, this one seems like it actually wants to find ways to support disabled people.

With fears around young disabled people being forced into work and cut off from benefits, this one seems much more compassionate.

Chair of the committee Debbie Abrahams said

Many NEETs may not be in a position to work, they could be carers or in poor health or experienced other adversity. More needs to be done to understand this and ensure they have the barriers to meaningful and sustainable work removed.

This is all pointing in the right direction. However, this review doesn’t specifically focus on disability in the same way that Milburn’s does, though maybe that’s a good thing.

How to take part

The call for evidence on this one gives respondents a much wider range of questions to answer than the DWP consultation. There are 19 questions to choose from, which cover support, prevention and employment separately.

Some of the questions include

What factors lead to a young person not being in education, employment or training (NEET)? Are there some young people who are more likely to be NEET than others?

From this question alone, it’s clear that this is a much more thorough review. These sorts of questions would make it much more easier to discuss issues disabled kids face.

You can find all the questions and how to submit here. You have until 4 pm on 12 February 2026.

DWP want disabled people silenced

It’s been clear for a while now that the DWP wants to make it as hard as possible for disabled people to stand up for themselves. When the government is trying all it can to ruin disabled people’s lives, it’s vital that those who can speak up for them.

Featured image via the Canary