The young people at risk of being criminalised by a benefits crackdown

Michael Crick's column in The i Paper backs Alan Milburn's review of young people not in education, employment or training. It puts their number at "the million or more", when The Independent and City AM, reporting the same review, put it at nearly one million. The overstatement is small and does not change the column's argument.

Opinion piece: read for false claims of fact and for fairness to the people it names, not for its opinions.

1. Uses figures that mislead

   Minor

   “the million or more people aged 18-24”

   Why this matters

   The words "the million or more" put the number of young people not in education, employment or training at a million or above.

   The impression it gives

   A reader takes the group Milburn's report covers to be at least a million people.

   The context

   Other outlets reporting the same review put the figure just below one million: The Independent says nearly one million and City AM says nearly 1m.

   How we know

   • The Independent reported“the nearly one million so-called “neets””Will Alan Milburn’s plans for ‘neets’ make any difference to welfare? (opens in a new tab)
   • City AM reported“nearly 1m people aged between 18 and 24”Neets tsar Milburn says benefits overhaul will lead to savings ‘in a decade’ (opens in a new tab)