We Can’t Address The NEETs Crisis Without A Collective Approach

On Tuesday 2nd June, leaders from across government, further education, skills, employability, and employer groups will come together for our Breaking Barriers Collective, where we’ll discuss practical interventions to bring down the spiralling numbers of young people not in education, employment and training (NEET). Unlike other events, the Collective, which is being hosted jointly by FE News and Edge Foundation, will create concrete, actionable recommendations that will be fed into government thinking, including Alan Milburn’s Young People and Work Review.

The stakes could not be higher

The stakes could not be higher. The latest labour market data from the ONS showed youth unemployment has passed one million for the first time in a decade, with over one in eight (13.5%) young people now classified as ‘NEET’. A weakening labour market is making it increasingly difficult for young people to find a job when leaving education, with vacancies at their lowest level since the pandemic. And this is all happening at a time when youth economic inactivity due to ill health and disability remains stubbornly high, with nearly 60% of NEET young people classified as economically inactive.

‘Scarring effect’ of being NEET in early adulthood into midlife

Addressing the NEET crisis is not only an economic imperative but a moral one, given that it can impact a young person’s physical and mental health as well as their finances. A recent study by the UCL Centre for Longitudinal Studies, for example, found a ‘scarring effect’ of being NEET in early adulthood into midlife. Notably, individuals who experienced even relatively short periods of being NEET between age 18 and 24 were significantly more likely to be unemployed, report poor health or psychological distress by age 51.

The Collective also comes at an inflection point for how the government approaches the NEET crisis. The Milburn Review has just published its interim ‘diagnostics’ report, which warns that Britain faces a “generational fault line” unless we confront the whole-system failure. Moreover, without urgent action, NEET levels could rise further to 1.25 million, or one in six young people.

We need systemic change to address this complex challenge

The interim report makes it abundantly clear that we need systemic change to address this complex challenge. A fundamental element of this will be re-aligning the education system with employers’ skills needs, including by directing additional funding to technical and vocational courses. Indeed, despite the government’s bold ambitions to support 200,000 young people into apprenticeships and employment through the Youth Guarantee, Milburn also criticises the government for squeezing further education funding, which has led colleges to turn away thousands of prospective students.

A unique opportunity to co-design creative, evidence-based solutions to inform its recommendations

With the review about to turn its attention to potential solutions ahead of a final report expected in the Autumn, the Collective provides a valuable opportunity to co-design creative, evidence-based solutions to inform its recommendations. Different organisations will bring their own unique perspectives to the Collective, whether they are charities with experience delivering youth services, young people with lived experience of being NEET, teachers and careers leaders, or government officials working on the review themselves. To address a crisis that is driven by a complex mix of structural, institutional, and personal barriers requires holistic systems thinking that can only emerge from all these players coming together under one roof.

By Olly Newton, Executive Director, Edge Foundation

To find out more about our Breaking Barriers Collective on 2nd June, see here: