Letters to the Editor: Young people singled out for cuts

David Cameron’s proposal is confusing for young people. Isn’t the whole point of housing benefit to support people on low incomes or those looking for work?

With one in five young people out of work, why are they being singled out as a group that doesn’t deserve support from the benefits system? Particularly at a time when they are also facing rising student debt, high unemployment, career service reforms and speculation about their exams system.

Yet again, it looks like young people, who were least responsible for causing the recession, are being targeted to pay the price.

Dara Farrell, 19, vice chair, the British Youth Council

Students need financial support
It is disastrous news that for the first time in a decade, the proportion of 16-year-olds in full-time education has dropped.

Barnardo’s warned last year that the bursary fund was a step backwards and our report, Staying the Course, found that since the abolition of the education maintenance allowance, some of the most disadvantaged students were being forced to skip meals just to afford the bus to college. 

The government must take urgent action to reverse this, which means investing more money so that students from the poorest backgrounds can afford to stay on in education and training.

Anne Marie Carrie, chief executive, Barnardo’s

Quick-fix reforms not the solution
Many vulnerable children have been systematically failed by a system that places them carelessly in alien environments far from home without the right support, and keeps police in the dark as to their location and numbers, so opening the door to sexual predators.

Changes must be made if we are to better protect some of society’s most vulnerable children. However, we urge against quick-fix government reform following recommendations made in the accelerated report by deputy children’s commissioner Sue Berelowitz.

This is no substitute for an independent investigation into children’s homes across England if improved quality of care and life chances are the goals for these children.

Andy McCullough, UK head of policy, Railway Children