Paul Nowak also calls on government to avoid arbitrary benefit cuts before much-anticipated Milburn report is published this week

Fixing Britain’s youth jobs crisis will require ministers to drastically increase investment in employment support while avoiding arbitrary cuts to benefits, the head of the trade union movement has said.

Before an important official report expected next week, the general secretary of the Trades Union Congress, Paul Nowak, said the government had a “once in a generation chance” to secure young people’s futures.