More than 40% of the annual £1bn that could be saved by tackling England's escalating ‘Neets' crisis through devolved programmes would come from savings to housing benefit budgets, the Local Government Association has estimated.

In their ‘white paper' on potential savings from ‘place-based budgeting', published on 1 October, LGA officials developed their claim that at least £1bn each year could be pocketed by devolving control over programmes designed to improve work and training prospects for the one million 16 to 24-year-olds currently not in education, employment or training (Neets).