With nearly one million young people in Britain neither in education nor work, the Lords have been told some workless youths won't work for less than £40,000-a-year and are "on the internet all day". Graham Cowley works with Neets - youngsters that are neither in employment, education or training - in Blackpool, and told the Lords' social mobility policy committee that there were “kids on the internet 24 hours a day, and they don’t want to work for anything less than 40 grand”.

His statement was met with gasps from some, prompting Mr Crowley to respond: “I know, I had that reaction. You may laugh, but that is the reality.” Mr Cowley said: “There’s something about what’s going on in the minds of these young people. I believe if we were able to get to them earlier and imbue them with a sense of ‘you need to put a shift in, to get what you want in life’ then I think there’s a real value in doing that.”

Lord Watts replied by saying that young people “are not stupid” and so if they assume they will “earn low incomes and there’s no future” they'll clip their ambitions.

He added that “it’s more comfortable to stay in the house than it is to go and try and find your way through life”.

Mr Cowley's comments came as the number of Neets reached 946,000 in July-September 2024, according to the Office for National Statistics (ONS). That figure is the highest since 2013, when the country was still reeling from the global financial crisis.

Former work and pensions secretary and now shadow chancellor, Mel Stride, last year blamed pornography and video games for a spike in worklessness among young men.

According to the figures, the majority of young Neets are male, accounting for 550,000 of the 946,000 total.

Most Neets are currently considered economically inactive, meaning they are not looking for a job. The data reveals that most young Neets are in that category (595,000), while 392,000 are unemployed but looking for work.