EU’s Youth Guarantee scheme will help generation ‘scarred by unemployment’, House of Lord says

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The government needs to rethink the way it uses its European funding to tackle the “generation scarred” by youth unemployment, a report from the House of Lords has stated.

Money from the EU should be used to support the introduction of a Youth Guarantee, rather than putting the funds towards existing domestic measures such as the Youth Contract, according to the report ‘Youth unemployment in the EU: a scarred generation?’

In particular, the report says, the government should run pilot Youth Guarantee schemes in five UK regions highlighted as having unemployment levels so high that they qualify for additional EU funding: Tees Valley & Durham; West Midlands; South Western Scotland; Inner London and Merseyside.

The Youth Guarantee is the EU’s flagship youth unemployment scheme, and requires the government to ensure that all young people find suitable work, training or further education opportunities within four months of being unemployed.

The report, conducted by the House of Lords EU Committee, stated that the rate of young jobless in the EU is still at nearly double its pre-crisis level, and the UK is experiencing exceptionally high levels of unemployment.

“The youth unemployment rate in the EU is more than double the general unemployment rate, and in the UK in the last few years we have seen the worst ever levels of youth unemployment,” said chairman Baroness O’Cathain. “Although the picture is starting to improve, the damage has been done.”

The report also recommends moving away from centralised management of EU funds to allow the government to make the most of local authorities and Local Enterprise Partnerships, who have links to specialist organisations in their areas.

Careers advice should also take a more traditional face-to-face format, rather than online support, the report said.

“We would also encourage the UK government and other Member State governments to use European money to establish new initiatives and learn from other countries,” Baroness O’Cathain added.

“The government thinks it knows best in this area, but we believe that not introducing a Youth Guarantee is unwise. We would urge the government to sign up to the Youth Guarantee instead of putting the money towards existing domestic initiatives.”