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Welcome to FE Soundbite Edition 833: 7th February 2026. What Can 50 Years Teach Milburn? How Do We KickStart Mental Health and SEND Support for NEETs?
This is the weekly e-newsletter and e-journal by FE News: ISSN 2732-4095. We know life is busy, so here's a snapshot of the latest announcements and epic thought leadership articles from sector influencers and thought leaders across FE and Skills this week on FE News.
Gavin’s Reflective Perspective
Milburn Review
We have a bit of a Milburn Theme on our exclusives this week. The Milburn Review is looking at the NEET challenge and the complexities within this, as there is not just one magic bullet fix to this. It is nuanced.
It is also a massive challenge. According to the latest data from ONS, we have 13.7% of 16-24 year olds not engaging... in work, in education, skills or training. This is a massive problem… what is great is that the Milburn Review isn’t just assuming, but relooking at this.
When you step back further, beyond Milburn’s review, we also have the Mayfield review (I know similar names, looking at similar things… but also very different… it’s a bit confusing)… but Mayfield is looking at the welfare budget, particularly on how to address economic inactivity due to ill health (which costs £212 Billion, every year). Especially as after 24 years old, NEETs, then feed into Mayfield, so it is good they are working together and not in isolation.
Sorah Gluck from Edge wrote a very interesting article called The Milburn Review Must Learn Lessons From the Past or Risk Repeating it... I personally found Sorah's article brilliant, and helpful to have all of these different policies in the one place from across the years and really good to then reflect on programmes from the past on youth engagement and employment… from YTS to KickStart. So quite a range from nearly 50 years... but what are the lessons we can learn, the good and the bad.. and maybe take some of this and move forward?
Social, Emotional and Mental Health impact on NEETs
I also really liked Sheila Clark’s article, looking at and thinking about the impact of SEMH support for young people. SEMH is social, emotional and mental health… Career Connect found that 37% of young people with SEMH challenges became NEET after leaving post-16 provision. This is significant…. This is over 1/3, nearly 40%! This is critically important to consider and address in the NEET puzzle. If you couple this with SEND support and Neuroinclusion, the Education Select committee highlighted a ‘cliff edge’ of SEND support at 16… then 18 transitioning from school to FE, from FE into work and progression pathways. Sheila also highlights that, in their research, young people with both SEMH needs and an Education, Health and Care Plan are five times more likely to be NEET in Year 12 than those without identified needs.
Youth Employment and The Disappearing Entry-Level Jobs
Alison Morris from Skills Federation wrote a cracking article called Unlocking Opportunity: Why More Support For Young People Isn’t Enough To Solve The Crisis, in which Alison highlights, "In many sectors, the jobs that once provided a vital first step into the labour market have declined or disappeared."… now there is more support and engagement for SMEs and young people with the changes in Apprenticeship funding, but as Alison highlights: “Rising employment costs make it harder to take risks on inexperienced recruits, and many smaller businesses lack HR capacity to support young employees." So adding all these together is really interesting.
So you can see why we are kicking off the Bridging the SEND Transition Collective event with ETF on the 24th April.. and then Breaking Barriers NEET Collective on the 2nd June… as we can see a major link between the two.
Help Shape Post 16 Education in Wales
Another way you can help shape post-16 and tertiary education: in Wales, we have a very cool exclusive from Vikki Howells asking for your help!
Ofsted Lessons
Would you find it helpful to hear from someone who has been there, done that with the new Ofsted inspection? Well... we have a cracking Geoffrey Fowler from LDE UTC that I think you'll find helpful! .. if not essential SLT reading for colleges, Training Providers and Sixth forms!
National Apprenticeship Week - the 19th NAW
Next week is National Apprenticeship Week.. Midday on Monday, we are dropping a cool exclusive interview with Skills England Chair, Phil Smith. I really, really like Phil. We chat about why it is important to celebrate NAW (can you believe National Apprenticeship Week has been running for 19 years now)?... the recent policy changes, more on SMEs and young people, NEETs, shorter duration Apprenticeships and quality, Foundation Apprenticeships, Apprenticeship units and future proofing the skills system for the changes coming in the World of work and impact of AI, automation, bots and agents (both digital AI agents and the next stage of physical bots). So, a really interesting chat. So I hope you find it interesting. It is site-wide on FE News from midday on Monday! (Day 1 of NAW)! … and good luck next week, I know this is a busy, busy week for the majority of the sector.
I hope you enjoy Soundbite this week.
Epic Exclusives Thought Leadership Articles
Our Top 3 Thought Leadership Articles This Week
Firstly, Ofsted, Inclusion and the Long View: Reflections from the Inspection Journey By Geoffrey Fowler, LDE UTC
Secondly, Why early SEMH Support must be a Priority in Tackling the NEET crisis By Sheila Clark, CEO of Career Connect
Finally, The Milburn Review must learn lessons from the past or risk repeating it By Sorah Gluck, Senior Policy and Public Affairs Manager, Edge Foundation
This week, we also had some other Epic Exclusives!
Unlocking Opportunity: Why More Support For Young People Isn’t Enough To Solve The Crisis By Alison Morris, Director of Policy, Skills Federation
Why Employers and Educators Must Work In Partnership To Make T-Levels Work For Young People From Under-served Communities By Jenni Anderson, CEO at the Talent Foundry, discusses the importance of employers and educators working together to ensure T-Level success.
Why Your Best Staff Say Yes Until They Burn Out! The Hidden Cost of Rejection Sensitivity By Nathan Whitbread, The Neurodivergent Coach
Why I am Asking You to Help Shape the Future of Tertiary Education in Wales By Vikki Howells, Welsh Minister for Further and Higher Education
What’s New in the World of FE?
Coming next week... a NAW special edition exclusive interview with Phil Smith, Chair of Skills England... Monday, Midday at Noon. Site-wide on FE News!
In The Know
We have two Collective Intelligence events planned for 2026... aka Collectives
We have big plans for upcoming Collectives, and you can get involved. One is on SEND in April .. and another on NEETs in June. We have learnt a lot from the Green Mindset Collective and we are drawing from this on how to give people more voice, more influence on the report... and to make the report more action focused (the Green Mindset Collective had a playbook for people to use, not just a dusty report that is never accessed, but something usable as a takeaway for the entire sector).
On 24th April 2026, at Tavistock Square in London, join us for the Bridging the SEND Transition Collective in partnership with ETF
On the 2nd June 2026, join us for the Breaking Barriers Collective event in partnership with Edge Foundation, working together collectively to solve the NEET puzzle.
These aren't conferences; these are collectives. These aren't lectures or chalk and talk, but interactive: it's rolling up your sleeves and making real change, where you get involved and actually give real input. These are two massively important Collectives, so join us and help shape the report and sector response!
By Danny O’Meara, Operations Manager, FE News and | 