The Institute of Directors has called on the government to slow the implementation of the Employment Rights Act and pause plans to equalise youth and adult minimum wage rates, after reports that publication of the Milburn Review into young people and work is to be delayed.
Anna Leach, chief economist at the IoD, said the reported delay to the review, led by former health secretary Alan Milburn, was “disappointing, but understandable”.
She said: “Suggestions that it will recommend an increase in funding for welfare, albeit framed as an investment with a future payoff for young people, would sit uneasily alongside a Budget likely to further increase the tax burden on investors and employers to plug an expected gap in the public finances.”
The IoD was responding to reports of a delay. Its statement did not give a revised publication date for the review.
The review was commissioned by the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions. Its interim report, published on 28 May, found that 957,000 people aged 16 to 24 were not in education, employment or training at the end of 2025. Mr Milburn wrote in that report that a final report, setting out “what a coherent participation system for early adulthood should look like”, would follow later this year.
Leach said measures to help young people into work had the backing of employers but needed to be matched by demand for staff.
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