Public spending to rise if youth projects are cut, says research
Posted on 21 July 2010
They warn that cutting such projects could result in “very significant rises in public expenditure.”The study, by researchers in the University’s Departments of Social Policy and Social Work and Health Sciences and conducted for the Audit Commission, demonstrates the long term cost of rising levels of youth unemployment associated with young people between the ages of 16 and 18 who are not in education, employment or training (NEET).
The lowest estimate of the cost to the public finances across the lifespan of young people in this category is nearly £12 billion, an increase of 44 per cent in the last eight years. Estimated lifetime losses to the economy and to individuals and their families total £22 billion – a 210 per cent increase over the 2002 figure.
The research team say that a series of case studies illustrates how relatively inexpensive youth support projects, often funded by local authorities, can produce major public finance savings.
But the study also reveals that should cuts in these projects be made, the resulting financial burden will fall on central government and the tax payer through escalating costs associated with unemployment and criminal justice.
Young people in the NEET category often have parents who are poor and unemployed; live in a deprived neighbourhood near schools with poor overall average attainment or live in particular circumstances which create barriers to participation.
The latter group can include young people who
- are or have been in care
- become pregnant and a parent in their mid-teenage years
- have a disability, special educational need or learning disability
- are young carers
- are homeless
- have a mental illness
- misuse drugs or alcohol
- are involved in offending
- have educational disaffection (truancy and/or school exclusion)
- have poor or no qualifications at age 16 plus
- are dropping out of post-16 educational attainment
Lead researcher, Bob Coles, said: “Some of the case studies reveal remarkable savings which can be made to public finances by modest public investment in childhood or adolescence. The indications are that cuts in such youth support programmes could result in very significant rises in public expenditure.”
The Audit Commission’s own report Against the Odds was published on 7 July and can be viewed via the following web links:
www.audit-commission.gov.uk/nationalstudies/localgov/againsttheodds/Pages/default.aspx
Notes to editors:
- The full report is available at link www.york.ac.uk/spsw/research/neet
- The Department of Social Policy and Social Work at the University of York is one of the leading UK centres for teaching and research in social policy, social work and applied social science. The most recent national review of its research – the 2008 Research Assessment Exercise – placed it in the top five of large departments in the country.
- The Department of Health Sciences at the University of York is large and multidisciplinary, offering a broad range of taught and research programmes in the health and social care field. We aim to develop the role of scientific evidence in health and healthcare through high quality research, teaching and other forms of dissemination.
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