UK hospitality sector to offer up to 100,000 jobs to young people out of work

Restaurants and pubs such as Nando’s and Fuller’s will create placements for 18- to 24-year-olds under DWP-backed scheme

Bars, clubs and restaurants will offer up to 100,000 jobs to young people not in employment, education or training (Neet) over the next three years in an effort to give them a first step on the ladder into work.

His full review into Britain’s crisis in youth unemployment, including recommendations to the government about how to tackle the crisis, is expected soon after the autumn budget on 28 October.

The initiative, which will be launched by Andy Burnham during a visit to a hospitality venue on Thursday, comes after the DWP announced a similar scheme for retailers including Marks & Spencer, Asda, Pets at Home and the John Lewis Partnership last month.

Lucy Powell, the education secretary, is expected to announce a review of school exclusion changes, after research showed that students who are persistently absent from school are nearly four times more likely to end up unemployed and not in education or training.

Powell said: “Absence and exclusion are too often a path to disengagement, with increased risks of becoming Neet. Too many young people who fall out of education risk being permanently left on the sidelines of work and opportunity.”

Milburn has previously argued that a national apprenticeship readiness scheme should be introduced in England to close the gap for young people between leaving school and starting work.

The Conservative leader, Kemi Badenoch, has made demands for cuts to welfare a central plank of her attacks on the government, telling Burnham in prime minister’s questions (PMQs) on Wednesday that he should cut welfare to fund higher defence spending.