'Work is good for you': how UK scheme could help tackle youth mental health crisis

{"heading_1":"The Youth Jobs Guarantee Scheme","subheading_1":"Background","content_1":"The UK government is launching a youth jobs guarantee scheme to help young people with mental health issues and unemployment. The scheme will eventually be available to 18- to 24-year-olds in Great Britain who have been claiming universal credit and seeking work for at least 18 months.","subheading_2":"Implementation","content_2":"The scheme is initially being piloted in six areas with high unemployment, including central and east Scotland, Birmingham and Solihull, and south-east and south-west Wales. The government intends it to be nationwide by November.","subheading_3":"Impact","content_3":"The scheme aims to create 90,000 subsidised placements over the next three years. Pat McFadden, the work and pensions secretary, visited a Boots warehouse where young people were taking on jobs under the scheme. He said work is good for mental health and can boost confidence.","subheading_4":"Critique","content_4":"The government criticizes the ","black and white":" distinction in the current universal credit system, which too readily separates people into ","fit for work":" and ","unfit for work":", leaving them without any support or conditions. McFadden highlights a recent initiative under which claimants with no obligation to look for work have been asked to attend voluntary interviews with work coaches at their local Jobcentre."}