New polling for the Milburn review finds half of UK adults believe young people have fewer opportunities than previous generations, with apprenticeships the clear public priority for government investment. It lands alongside ONS figures showing more than a million 16 to 24 year olds are now NEET.

The Department for Work and Pensions has published interim polling carried out by Ipsos for the Alan Milburn review into young people and work, covering public attitudes to the recent rise in the number of young people not in education, employment or training.

The survey covered 2,180 UK adults aged 16 to 75 and ran between 31 July and 5 August 2026. A full report is due in September 2026 and will inform the review’s final recommendations.

It arrives on the same morning as ONS labour market figures showing 1,012,000 people aged 16 to 24 are NEET, or 13.5% of that age group, with the national employment rate at 75.1%, down 0.2 percentage points on a year ago.

Half of respondents said young people today have fewer opportunities than previous generations. That view is strongest among young people themselves, at 56% of 16 to 24 year olds against 47% of those aged 55 to 75. Parents of teenagers were also more likely to hold it than parents of primary aged children, at 53% against 45%.

Asked what has driven the rise in young people who are NEET, 36% pointed to limited access to apprenticeships and entry level jobs. Almost the same proportion, 35%, said young people lack the motivation or desire to work. A further 32% identified the loss of part time and early work experience of the kind Saturday jobs used to provide.

That near tie is the most striking finding in the report. The public is split roughly down the middle between a structural explanation and a behavioural one, which makes the politics of any intervention harder than the headline sympathy for young people would suggest.

Young people do not split that way. Among 16 to 24 year olds the leading explanation was fewer early work opportunities at 48%, followed by limited access to apprenticeships and entry level jobs at 39% and broader economic conditions such as the cost of living and the state of the job market at 38%. Motivation did not feature near the top.

“More and more people believe hard work is not rewarded.  That undermines the promise that has been at the heart of our country’s social contract – that if you put in effort, you will be able to get ahead, and that each generation should do better than the last.

“That promise is being broken.  What I hear from young people themselves time and again confirms it. There’re too few apprenticeships, too few entry-level jobs, and too few chances to get on the first rung of the career ladder.  It is not a shortage of effort that is holding back Britain’s young people.  It is a shortage of support and opportunity.  

“That is not sustainable and has to change.  We have to restore the promise that hard work pays off. That means backing the next generation. They hold the key to Britain’s future.”

On where money should go, the sector will find the answer familiar. Half of all respondents said the government should prioritise more apprenticeship opportunities, ahead of skills training and education courses at 45%, more work experience opportunities at 42% and help finding suitable jobs at 35%. Support for apprenticeships rises to 62% among 55 to 75 year olds, the same group least likely to say opportunities have narrowed.

On social mobility more broadly, 27% said success depends mainly on hard work and 22% said it depends on who you know or your family background. Only 5% each said luck or talent, while 36% said it comes down to a roughly equal mixture of all of these.

The final report is expected in September 2026.