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A report by the thinktank Policy Exchange outlines much of what needs to change. The current system should be abolished and replaced with a flexible alternative that can treat cases on an individual basis.

The number of support providers should be increased so that specialist help is always available. And we should separate the system that distributes unemployment benefits from the organisations that help the unemployed into work. That will mean the young unemployed are treated not as benefit scroungers but as what they are: people with the potential to make a hugely valuable contribution to society. Unemployed people should be treated as potential to be realised, not a problem to be solved.

For this to happen, Jobcentre Plus’s role of helping people into employment should be handed to specialist organisations, creating a network of regulated charities and private sector organisations that already have expertise in this area. This would mean that individuals could be referred to an organisation best suited to their needs, with support packages tailored to each person. This system should be geared towards helping people on a case-by-case basis, working with individuals to work out the barriers preventing them from finding work and building a plan for overcoming those barriers. It is this kind of methodical and personal approach that will help people not simply to find work but, equally importantly, find the type of work that they are best suited to.

See the full article on The Guardian's website