A Neet way to help youth in Dudley | Brief letters

Regarding Dudley having the highest rate of young people not in education, employment or training (How Dudley became centre of UK’s youth jobs crisis, 8 November), this doesn’t surprise me, having taught for 24 years in the Black Country. The area has a large proportion of working‑class communities that value technical education, but the national curriculum makes little provision for this. Investment in technical education from an early age would equip these young people with the skills that would attract employers to the area.Kartar UppalSutton Coldfield, West Midlands In response to Bill Onwusah’s winter fuel payment query (Letters, 6 November), the Department for Work and Pensions calculates it based on your circumstances in the “qualifying week”, principally your age in September this year and if you were living in England or Wales, whereas your actual entitlement to the payment depends on your income in the 2025-26 tax year, which HMRC won’t know until April next year at the earliest.Godfrey KellerDepartment of economics, University of Oxford Regarding the issue of changing the name of Epstein Road in Thamesmead (Letters, 7 November), this could be solved by adding “Jacob” to the beginning

Crisis charity to become a landlord in attempt to rectify ‘catastrophic’ housing in UK

The homelessness charity Crisis is going to become a landlord for the first time in its 60-year history, saying the housing crisis in the UK has reached a “catastrophic scenario”.Matt Downie, the charity’s chief executive, said it was preparing to launch a fundraising appeal to buy its own housing stock as it can longer get access to social housing to help homeless people.“We don’t want to do this, but if nobody else is going to provide housing, we’ll do it ourselves,” he said.“It’s something that would have been inconceivable for my predecessors 10, 30, 50 years ago, because people would have expected both councils and housing associations to provide the stock needed for people on low incomes. It’s just no longer available

‘Similar pressure to London’: the housing crisis reaches Newcastle

It used to be rare to see people waiting outside the Crisis centre in the heart of Newcastle, but now a queue of people snakes around the building most days before it opens its doors.It is a constant stream of rough sleepers, workers sleeping in their car or sofa-surfing, families reeling from an eviction notice, people fleeing domestic violence or recently arrived refugees with nowhere to go filing in desperate for help.The north-east city used to be considered among the country’s most affordable places to live, but in recent years it has been engulfed in a housing crisis that has pushed the city closer to London with its soaring rents and long waiting lists for social housing.“Five or six years ago, I’d say to colleagues here: ‘You’ve got it easy compared with Brent, this is no problem compared with Croydon.’ The pressure in London is definitely worse, but we’re seeing similar situations in the north-east now,” said specialist housing adviser, Mark Reynolds

Gren Gaskell obituary

My stepfather Gren Gaskell, who has died aged 89, was a former miner who pulled himself up by his bootstraps to become a company manager with a passion for learning. In later life he published three books, including poetry and short stories, inspired by his experiences in the coalmining community.Born in Bulwell, Nottinghamshire, Gren, short for Granville, was the son of John, a miner, and Eliza. John died in a pit accident when Gren was four, and Eliza struggled to look after him and his five siblings. Experiencing hunger and cold as a child made him count his blessings as an adult, as he championed the rights of the less fortunate

It pays to support women’s health in the workplace | Letter

The Keep Britain Working review has shed valuable light on the number of working-age adults in the UK falling out of work due to ill health (Fixing Britain’s worklessness crisis will cost employers £6bn a year, report says, 5 November). As part of this, we should also specifically acknowledge the impact of women’s health issues and the role of employers in addressing these.In a report by the NHS Confederation in partnership with our foundation, we found that an estimated £11bn is lost annually due to absenteeism for gynaecological conditions alone. And earlier this year, our research found that 15% of women report having to change to part-time work and 14% have had to quit work due to women’s health conditions. Furthermore, 32% of women reported that they aren’t receiving enough support for their health issues from their employers

Review to look at role of mental health issues in UK youth unemployment

The role of mental health issues and disability in youth unemployment will be examined by the former Labour health secretary Alan Milburn as part of a review looking into rising inactivity among Britain’s young people.Nearly a million people aged 16 to 24 are not in education, employment or training, often described with the acronym Neets. Milburn will look at ways to avoid people becoming trapped as Neets and the findings will be published in the summer.The government announced the review four days after publishing the findings of another review, by the former John Lewis boss Charlie Mayfield, which said “young adults” aged 16 to 34 were one of the key cohorts affected by an “economic inactivity crisis”.The number of 16- to 34-year-olds with a mental health condition who are economically inactive due to long-term sickness rose by three-quarters, or 190,000, between 2019 and 2024, Mayfield’s review found