Can We Keep Britain Working and Learning? FE Soundbite Edition 868

October 10, 2026

Welcome to FE Soundbite Edition 868: 10th October 2026. Can We Keep Britain Working and Learning?

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

84% of teenagers agree with the latest Vocational and Technical Reforms… but how about employers?

DfE released some interesting research this week sharing that 84% of teenagers agree with the latest technical and vocational reforms. Eg the reforms coming on Vocational GCSEs, V Levels and T Levels. Which is great, however… I think probably more important, is what do employers want and need? There are 702,000 vacancies, 981,000 NEETs.. we need to make sure that qualification reforms are matching employer needs.

You’ve heard of the NHS, could we have a WHS?

The Keep Britain Working team released some interesting updates this week. Particularly on the importance of retention and speed of helping someone back into work. The Keep Britain Working team (led by Charlie Mayfield) are looking at the impact of Economic inactivity due to ill health. This is around 2.8 million people (which has gone up by 800,000 since 2019), and costs the nation around £212 Billion per year! Which is 7% of GDP! So it is significant!

300,000 people with a health condition leave work each year

The Keep Britain Working (KBW) team also shared that around 300,000 people with a health condition leave work each year. Someone absent for 4-6 weeks has a 96% chance of returning to work. However, after a year, fewer than half do.

Once someone is economically inactive due to ill health, only 3.8% return to work within a year

The KBW team also highlighted that once a person is inactive for health reasons, their chance of working again within a year is 3.8%, compared to 47% for someone unemployed! This highlights that early intervention is key.

The KBW team also shared that a 1% increase in participation would mean around 330,000 more people in work, which is equivalent to the productive capacity of a city the size of Cardiff!

Mayfield's team has proposed a Workplace Health System, which has three parts: better, more inclusive workplaces; better workplace health provision; and better intelligence on workplace health and inclusion.

Is there a role for the FE and Skills sector to support the pilots?

The update sets out five priorities for the next phase: completing and testing the workplace framework, establishing affordable and accessible Workplace Health Provision, making better intelligence deliverable, working with places to develop and scale the system, and preparing a plan for a phased rollout ahead of the 2027 Spending Review.

That plan is expected to cover evidence of what works, how adoption will spread beyond Vanguard employer organisations, how delivery will work through places and sectors, and any requirement for government investment, which the update expects to be limited.

Where could the FE and Skills sector work alongside Vanguard Employers and local provision (mayors or local councils), to support with skills, employability support and reasonable adjustments?

Is there a way to support health and learning.. maybe Keep Britain Learning?

Nearly 90 councils have signed up to Milburn’s local NEET task force

Thinking of local... Mayfield’s team is focusing on places and regions, and Milburn’s team is taking a similar approach with nearly 90 councils having signed up to a local NEET task force to address youth employment and engagement. Which is really good.

As a part of the announcement, DWP also released the latest data on the NEET rates regionally. This makes me wonder if both teams will further work on how to showcase the latest regional data… from NEETs through to economic inactivity due to ill health.

So.. what is the NEET rate in your region?

In April to June 2026, 13% of 16-24 year-olds in the UK were NEET. The regional figures below are from January to March 2026 (the latest regional breakdown), so treat the 13% as a rough guide rather than a like-for-like benchmark!

The highest rate of NEETs is in the North East with 19.6% and the lowest is the South West region at 9.9% (the South West rate is 49.5% lower than the North East rate), so massive regional differences:

North East: Jan - Mar 26, the NEET rate was 19.6%.
North West: Jan - Mar 26, the NEET rate was 13.8%.
Yorkshire and The Humber: Jan - Mar 26, the NEET rate was 16.3%.
East Midlands: Jan - Mar 26, the NEET rate was 16.0%.
West Midlands: Jan - Mar 26, the NEET rate was 12.5%.
East of England: Jan - Mar 26, the NEET rate was 11.5%.
London: Jan - Mar 26, the NEET rate was 12.7%.
South East: Jan - Mar 26, the NEET rate was 10.6%.
South West: Jan - Mar 26, the NEET rate was 9.9%.

I can’t wait to hear more from Milburn’s team and the upcoming Milburn review report which is now due soon... and we know Milburn and Mayfield are working closely together; how much of their plans will dovetail into each other?

I hope you enjoy FE Soundbite this week!