Rachel Reeves MP, Labour’s Shadow DWP Secretary, responding to the Government’s decision to abandon their Youth Contract, said:

“Just two years after the launch of David Cameron’s flagship Youth Contract, the £1 billion programme is being abandoned by ministers.

‘The Youth Contract has been an abject failure from start to finish. Ministers promised it would get every unemployed young person working or learning, but only a tiny fraction of Youth Contract employer wage incentives were ever used to get young people into work, and over 800,000 young people are still unemployed.

‘The Government should introduce Labour’s Compulsory Jobs Guarantee to get young jobseekers off benefits and into work.”

ENDS