‘Young people are turning to gangs for help with the rent’

AMAJOR new report shines a light on the lives of 300,000 young people across the UK who are not in a family home and are trying to get by on benefits.

They can be left with less than £1 a day for food once essential costs are met.

Many of these people may have had to leave home because of the danger of abuse and violence, while others may have gone through the care system and are now trying to make it on their own.

One in 25 of all 16 to 24-year-olds is living independently on benefits – and the new report uncovers just how hard it is for them to get by.

The Social Security Advisory Committee (SSAC) wants the UK Government to do more to help them take advantage of training and job opportunities, and it argues a key way of doing this is by easing pressures on their budgets.

The report’s authors state that the most common phrase they heard was: “We’re being set up to fail.”

They warn it is “unrealistic” to think that young people will be able to look for jobs and training effectively while worrying about how to pay the rent.

The research shows how a young person on a Jobseeker’s Allowance weekly income of £57.90 could be left £6.70 in the red if they spend just £20 a week on food and household goods and £26.90 on gas, electricity and water, with nothing budgeted for clothing or unforeseen expenses. If they fall into debt, the situation gets rapidly worse.

Looking for help with cash can create more problems if this “means borrowing money from gangs or returning to an abusive home”. Some people had turned to crime.

One person told the researchers: “I understand that you can’t get paid benefits willy-nilly, but people won-