A Scottish guarantee for young people could reset the odds
The idea of a Youth Guarantee is simple: no matter where you live or what your family can afford, every young person should have a real shot at training, an apprenticeship, or a job. It is a policy that has been argued over in European parliaments for years and is now being put firmly on the Scottish political table by the SNP. Annabelle Ewing and her colleagues want Holyrood to be the place where that promise is written into law for an entire generation.
Australian readers will recognise the shape of the argument. In places like Western Sydney, the Hunter Valley and outer Geelong, young people often leave school and find themselves stuck in a cycle of casual hospitality shifts and short-term contracts. The federal government talks about a "fair go" for apprentices, yet in regional Queensland and the Pilbara, host employers can be hard to pin down. The day-to-day reality for an eighteen-year-old in Brisbane or Wollongong looks a lot like the day-to-day reality for someone in Perth or Coatbridge, and that shared experience is exactly why the Scottish proposal is getting attention well beyond Scotland.
The SNP's plan goes beyond a vague pledge. It would enshrine a legal entitlement to paid training, further education, or a job placement within a set timeframe after finishing school. The party frames it as an investment in Scotland's economic recovery, the kind of structural reform that becomes possible only when Scotland stops needing Westminster's permission to act. For Ewing, who served as an SNP MP and has long campaigned on workers' rights, the guarantee is a logical next step from the older Scots issues she champions, like a fair deal on pensions.
Australia has flirted with similar models for decades without locking them down. Tasmania's youth retention schemes, Victoria's TAFE reforms, the federal JobTrainer program — each addresses a slice of the problem but none offers the universal guarantee the SNP is now proposing. The Scottish model is bolder: it treats access to work or training as a right, not as a lottery.
What the Youth Guarantee actually delivers
The headline commitment is straightforward. Anyone aged sixteen to twenty-four who finishes school, college or a training programme would be offered a place on an apprenticeship, a paid internship, a further education course, or a guaranteed job placement within twelve weeks. The placement would be paid at the living wage and would have to meet minimum standards on hours, mentorship and workplace safety.
For rural areas like the Scottish Borders, the Highlands or Argyll, the guarantee would come with funding for travel and accommodation, so that taking up a place in Edinburgh, Glasgow or Perth does not mean a family taking on extra debt. The proposal also prioritises modern apprenticeships in growth sectors — renewables, digital, healthcare, and the trades — the very sectors where Australia is also crying out for skilled workers.
- A paid apprenticeship, training place, or job offer within twelve weeks of leaving school or college
- Travel and accommodation support for those moving from rural areas to take up a placement
- A focus on sectors with real skills shortages, including renewables, digital and care
- A reformed apprenticeship scheme with qualifications that employers recognise and value
Why Australia and Scotland keep arriving at the same debate
When policy makers talk about the "scarring effect" of long-term youth unemployment, they often point to figures from places like north-western Sydney or the Illawarra, where rates bounce between nine and twelve per cent in the summer months. Scotland's youth unemployment sits at a similar level, and the human story behind the numbers is identical: a kid finishes year twelve, picks up a few shifts at the local shopping centre, and never quite gets a foot on a career ladder.
Both countries are confronting the casualisation of work. In Australia it shows up in café culture, in backpackers on working holidays, and in the gig economy. In Scotland it shows up in zero-hours contracts across the high street. A Youth Guarantee would directly counter that drift, forcing employers and government to offer real, paid, sustained positions rather than a string of stop-gaps that go nowhere.
Skills, apprenticeships and the sectors that employers actually want
A guarantee is only as good as the training behind it. The SNP's plan links the offer to a reformed Scottish Apprenticeship scheme, with new standards developed alongside industry bodies such as Skills Development Scotland. Digital skills, green energy installation, advanced manufacturing and care work would be prioritised, with pathways that lead to recognised qualifications rather than short certificates that employers ignore.
This is where the Scottish model parts company with some Australian schemes. JobTrainer has been criticised for funding short courses that do not always line up with local employer demand in places like Warrnambool or Cairns. The SNP argues that a guarantee worth the name has to be tied to real vacancies, not to box-ticking exercises.
Independence and the politics of delivery
Ewing and her colleagues are blunt about the political backdrop. A guarantee of this scale, properly funded, would require decisions on taxation, welfare and labour market policy that the Scottish Parliament cannot make under the current devolution settlement. The campaign message is that voters in Ochil and South Perthshire face a clear choice: keep asking Westminster for permission, or vote to give Holyrood the powers needed to deliver.
It is a pitch that resonates with anyone who has watched Canberra tie state governments in knots on skills funding, or seen a state premier blame the federal government for cuts to TAFE campuses in Ballarat or Bendigo. Federalism and devolution produce the same frustrations, and the SNP's answer is the more drastic one.
How the guarantee would be paid for
Funding is always the awkward part of any big social promise. The SNP points to redirected existing budgets, a proposed increase in income tax for higher earners, and growth in apprenticeship levy income as the main pillars. Independent analysis suggests the package would cost several hundred million pounds a year once fully operational, but supporters argue that the cost of youth unemployment already runs well into the billions in lost tax revenue, welfare payments and lost economic activity.
This is not a freebie. It is a structural shift that asks higher earners and larger employers to contribute more, in exchange for a better-trained workforce and a smaller bill for unemployment support down the track.
- Universal access to training or work, rather than targeted programs that miss too many
- A guarantee tied to real vacancies, not just funded course places that go unused
- Funding drawn from higher earners and apprenticeship levies, with long-term savings on welfare
- A legal right that the Scottish Parliament can enforce, without needing Westminster's sign-off
What young people are telling campaigners on the doorsteps
The messages coming back from canvassing in Alloa, Tillicoultry and Crieff are consistent. Young Scots are not asking for handouts. They want a fair shot, real training, and a government that treats their first job as a beginning rather than a cul-de-sac. The same line turns up in letters to MPs in Launceston and in submissions to state politicians in Tamworth.
Doorstep conversations across Scotland, and across regional Australia, keep landing on the same anxiety: the social contract between a young person and their country is wearing thin. Below is how the SNP's plan stacks up against the current UK offer in Scotland.
| Feature | Current UK offer in Scotland | SNP National Youth Guarantee |
|---|---|---|
| Legal right to training or work | No statutory entitlement | Yes, enshrined in law for 16–24 year olds |
| Main funding source | Westminster block grant | Scottish income tax, apprenticeship levy and redirected budgets |
| Travel support for rural learners | Limited and means-tested | Dedicated budget for travel and accommodation |
| Sectors prioritised | Broad, with no clear focus | Renewables, digital, healthcare, advanced manufacturing and the trades |
| Timeframe to placement | Varies, often months | Twelve weeks maximum |
| Role of Westminster | Sets the broad UK framework and welfare rules | Reduced, with most labour market powers under Holyrood control |
Across regional Australia, the conversation usually stalls at a state-versus-federal funding dispute. In Scotland, the SNP is trying to short-circuit that argument by tying the guarantee directly to the case for independence. Whether that pitch wins over voters in Perth, Kinross or Crieff will come down to whether people trust the party with the tax rises attached to it.
If you want to back Annabelle Ewing's plan for a National Youth Guarantee and a fair deal for older Scots too, you can read more about her wider policy commitments — including her promise on fair pensions — and add your name to the campaign mailing list to hear about local events in Ochil and South Perthshire.