Vicky Spratt

Housing Britain, my new series for @BBCRadio4, is now available to listen to

Part 1 is all about housebuilding. Why is it so difficult to build new homes? Is the environment - newts and bats - in the way? Will Labour meet its target?

Listen here 📻

bbc.co.uk/programmes/m00…

On Milburn and young people - this is bigger than benefits. It is about a system that isn’t working on any level.

I have covered stories of young people who use PIP to pay for their housing or who were signed off as “disabled” by the benefits system when they didn’t want to be because it’s all that could be done for them in that moment.

This is about jobs. Young people applying for hundreds and hearing nothing back.

This is about housing. Young people not being able to move out of home, if they’re lucky enough to have one to move out of.

This is about education. Young people do not feel that school is working for them and want more training opportunities.

Milburn is calling for an ambitious reset of the welfare state - a new system for the young - but for it to be successful it will need to create new quality opportunities, particularly in places where they are scarce like Blackpool and Middlesbrough.

Exclusive - huge changes are coming to Britain’s benefits system but some young people may get MORE support as long as they engage with work.

As Alan Milburn has told @Steven_Swinford - he will call for Labour to take young people off of the sickness and disability Universal Credit pathway, replacing those benefits - UCH and PIP - with a new conditional “youth allowance”.

- Milburn wants a shift from welfare to work unless someone has a severe health condition or disability.

- He favours totally new system of employment support to be created for young people. Work and Pensions Secretary has told me that this idea has “merit”.

- I look at what the new system might look like - subsidised jobs and apprentices like those seen in Denmark and the Netherlands.

- But - some young people will be offered MORE support. Milburn has told me that care leavers in particular - but also teen parents - should get cash support payments as long as they engage with the new system of work and training support.

- This is the culmination of a year of investigation from Milburn. It is not a quick fix but a total rejig of the welfare state. Politically, it sets out a clear position for Labour and a bold ambition to completely overhaul Universal Credit which McFadden thinks is dysfunctional. Won’t necessarily be an easy sell to Labour backbenches but, makes it harder for Labour and Reform to accuse Labour of not taking benefits bill seriously.

- As the brilliant @kitty_donaldson has learned, McFadden is minded to accept all 200 pages of Milburn’s recommendations in full.

- I understand there would then be a consultation before legislation.

Read my full report @theipaper

inews.co.uk/news/under-25s…

Exclusive - Housing Minister @mtpennycook tells me Labour are NOT “backing away” from their “commitments to leaseholders”.

He confirms that Labour will act on ground rents, enfranchisement and lease extensions within this Parliament.

Plans for reform of the leasehold system in England and Wales will not be derailed by litigious freeholders, he says.

Around 5 million leaseholders homeowners are caught up in this scandal.

- Today changes are being announced to give leaseholders more power and scrutiny over service charges. This is happening via the Leasehold and Freehold Act 2024.

- Pennycook confirms that Labour’s landmark Commonhold and Leasehold Reform Bill will be back in Parliament soon.

Full story @theipaper

inews.co.uk/news/leasehold…

Another early Milburn change. Govt is looking to strengthen mobile phone guidance for schools so pupils cannot have access to phones during the school day - changes to take effect from September 2027.

This is something that Alan Milburn recently told me he would call for because he has seen a link between smartphones, young people's anxiety and stunted development.

inews.co.uk/news/major-sch…