For every £25 spent on benefits, just £1 goes toward helping them work
A million young Britons — one in eight between sixteen and twenty-four — stand outside the currents of work and education, a stillness that costs the nation not only £125 billion but something harder to price: a generation's sense of belonging. Into this gap, the government has placed Marc Bolland, former chief of Marks & Spencer, asking him to do what policy alone has not — persuade British business to treat youth unemployment as its own problem to solve. The appointment arrives with an uncomfortable arithmetic already on the table: for every £25 spent keeping young people on benefits, just £1 is spent helping them find work.
- One million young people are classified as Neets — not in education, employment, or training — and without intervention, that number is projected to reach 1.25 million by the 2030s.
- Mental health barriers are reshaping the crisis: six in ten young Neets have never held a job, and nearly half of those who claim disability benefits before twenty-four remain outside work a decade later.
- The government's spending ratio — £25 on benefits for every £1 on employment support — exposes a structural imbalance that Bolland's appointment is explicitly designed to challenge.
- Bolland brings existing leverage: his Movement to Work charity has already placed over 200,000 young people into jobs, giving him credibility with both business leaders and the DWP.
- His mandate centres on convening chief executives across sectors and carving out specific pathways for disabled young people, the group most at risk of permanent exclusion from the labour market.
Marc Bolland, who spent six years at the helm of Marks & Spencer, has been appointed by the government as lead non-executive director at the Department for Work and Pensions — tasked with rallying British business around a crisis that official language has struggled to resolve on its own. The appointment follows an interim report by former health secretary Alan Milburn, which warned that roughly one million young people aged sixteen to twenty-four are currently outside education, employment, or training. Without meaningful intervention, that figure could reach 1.25 million by the 2030s, at an economic cost already estimated at £125 billion. Britain's rate of youth economic inactivity — near 12.5 percent — sits far above comparable nations like the Netherlands, where the figure is closer to five percent.
Bolland's selection is grounded in an existing track record. He chairs Movement to Work, a charity that has helped more than 200,000 unemployed young people into jobs through partnerships with the DWP. The government is betting that his private-sector relationships can accelerate what has, by most measures, been a stalled national effort. Work and pensions secretary Pat McFadden framed the appointment as a signal of intent; Bolland described himself as honoured and passionate, stressing that business involvement gives young people their best chance.
A central part of his mandate concerns young people with disabilities. Milburn's report found rising numbers being classified as unfit to work due to anxiety, depression, and neurodevelopmental conditions — and the data is stark: six in ten young Neets have never held a job, compared with four in ten in 2005. Almost half of those who claim a health or disability benefit before twenty-four remain outside work a decade later. The spending picture sharpens the challenge further: for every £25 directed toward youth benefits, just £1 goes toward helping young people find employment. Bolland's task, at its core, is to rebalance that equation — and to make the case that the private sector has both the means and the responsibility to help.
Marc Bolland, who spent six years running Marks & Spencer before moving on to lead Morrisons, has been handed a new assignment: convince British business that youth unemployment is worth their time and money. The government appointed him this past weekend as lead non-executive director at the Department for Work and Pensions, tasking him with convening chief executives across sectors to build what the official language calls "clear routes into work." The appointment arrives as a kind of emergency measure, backed by an interim report that landed Thursday with an uncomfortable forecast.
The numbers are stark. About one million people between sixteen and twenty-four—roughly one in eight of that age group—are currently outside education, employment, or training. The government calls them Neets. An interim report by former health secretary Alan Milburn warned that without significant intervention, this figure could climb to 1.25 million by the 2030s. The economic cost of the current crisis alone sits around £125 billion. For context, the proportion of young people in this situation in Britain is substantially higher than in comparable developed nations. The Netherlands manages to keep this figure at about five percent. Britain's rate hovers near 12.5 percent.
Bolland's appointment is not random. He already chairs Movement to Work, a charity that has helped more than 200,000 unemployed young people find jobs through existing partnerships with the Department for Work and Pensions. The government is betting that his existing relationships and track record in the private sector can accelerate what has been, by most measures, a stalled effort. Work and pensions secretary Pat McFadden framed the appointment as a signal of seriousness. Bolland himself said he felt "honoured and passionate" about the work, emphasizing that business involvement gives young people "the best possible chance of success."
A significant portion of Bolland's mandate will focus on young people with disabilities. Milburn's report found that an increasing number of young people are being classified as unfit to work due to anxiety, depression, and neurodevelopmental conditions. The data is sobering: six in ten young people have never held a job, compared with four in ten in 2005. Almost half of those who claim a health or disability benefit before age twenty-four remain unemployed or outside education a decade later. The government's spending priorities suggest the scale of the challenge. For every twenty-five pounds spent on benefits for young people, just one pound goes toward helping them find work.
What Bolland is being asked to do, in essence, is rebalance that equation—to make the case to business leaders that investing in youth employment infrastructure makes sense, and to help disabled young people access training and jobs that currently feel out of reach. Whether a former retail executive can move that needle remains to be seen. But the appointment signals that the government views the problem as urgent enough to require someone with both private-sector credibility and existing charitable infrastructure already in place.
Notable Quotes
I know that working hand in hand with business to support young people gives them the best possible chance of success.— Marc Bolland
The appointment sends a clear signal that the government is serious about tackling the challenge of youth unemployment.— Pat McFadden, work and pensions secretary
The Hearth Conversation Another angle on the story
Why bring in someone from retail and supermarkets to solve a youth employment crisis? What does Bolland actually know about this problem?
He doesn't come in cold. Movement to Work has already placed over 200,000 young people into jobs. He knows how to move people from unemployment into work at scale. The government is betting on his existing relationships and track record, not just his title.
But the numbers are getting worse, not better. Six in ten young people have never had a job. How does one person, even a well-connected one, reverse that?
He's not meant to reverse it alone. His job is to convene—to get chief executives across different sectors to commit resources and create pathways. The real problem isn't lack of jobs; it's lack of coordination between what young people need and what businesses are willing to offer.
What about the mental health piece? The report mentions anxiety and depression as major barriers. That's not a jobs problem; that's a health problem.
True, but the report also shows the government spends twenty-five pounds on benefits for every pound spent on helping young people work. If you're depressed and isolated at home, a job—the right job, with support—can be part of the solution, not separate from it. Bolland's mandate includes working with charities that support disabled young people specifically.
So this is about rebalancing the spending, not just creating more positions?
Exactly. The infrastructure exists. The money exists. What's missing is the will to connect them. That's what Bolland is being asked to do.