Just metres from DWP’s Westminster HQ last night, my path crossed that of 2 inspirational young women I’m unlikely to have otherwise met.

Brookemorgan Henry-Rennie, Catherine and I attended the launch of Centrepoint’s research into homeless and disadvantaged young people’s experiences of the social security system.

Even before the pandemic we knew the UK’s social security system wasn’t meeting young people’s needs.
YP were more likely to be furloughed or unemployed. 3m people claimed Universal Credit pre Covid. 6m were claiming 3 months into lockdown. On one day 100,000 people signed on for the first time, many of them under 25.

Thank you Centrepoint and Stephen Timms MP for shining a light into this murky area. And here’s to all the amazing youth groups like Youth Concern who support vulnerable and disadvantaged young people.

Because if we don’t, who will? In the words of one of the peer researchers – themselves aged just 21 and having experienced homelessness, rape, alcohol dependency and (unsurprisingly) complex mental health problems –

“When we look at hungry children we feel sorry for them. But they become young adults (and the problems that caused them to be hungry don’t just go away). And society’s opinion then changes. Our society doesn’t have sympathy with vulnerable young people… And it’s charities who have to pick up the pieces.”