How is Connect to Work Breaking Barriers to Employment? FE Soundbite 851
Welcome to FE Soundbite Edition 851: 13th June 2026. How is Connect to Work Breaking Barriers to Employment? Is this potentially a blueprint for NEETs, as well as economic inactivity due to ill health?
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.
Upcoming national day to celebrate vocational learning
Save the date for Vocational Celebration Day on 6 August 2026, led by Enginuity and EAL — a national campaign celebrating the value and impact of vocational and technical learning. Organisations, educators and individuals can now get involved and show their support by downloading the FREE campaign pack and joining the celebration.
Gavin’s Reflective Perspective
Feels like Campaign Week
It felt like a week of campaigns this week. Some FE News campaigns concluded this week and some kicked off! So Prof Amanda Kirby and Dr Vikki Smith launched the report from the Bridging the SEND Transitions collective this week. Check out their joint article on Beyond the Label… the full report and infographic are here!
In fact, I have had a youth and NEET engagement week this week to be fair.
So we launched the Missing Million live stream with NCFE… with a brand new season on Learning for a Changing World. We had the big interview with Phil Smith (chair of Skills England), loads on NEETs, but also SME’s, data and labour market, the Skills Compass, Local Skills Dashboards, portability of skills. Loads in there about the direction of travel for employability and skills. I rate Phil really highly, and he is a genuinely nice bloke and proper what I would call ‘skills smart’!
We have also continued the ‘reflectives’ from the Breaking Barriers collective, looking at NEETs and youth engagement. We have had Breaking Barriers collective reflectives from Lee Reddington, AELP’s Paul Stannard (some interesting reflections on Skills Passports from Paul, this is why we scheduled this for the same day as Phil Smith, who was talking about Skills Passports, Digital Skills Wallets and portability of skills and thinking of employability), Prof Deirdre Hughes, James Stockdale and Rob West. We have one more reflective to come from the facilitators of Breaking Barriers (with Baz’s due on Monday)… then come the video outputs from Breaking Barriers, so an ongoing campaign and outcome for this.
More Barriers being broken down with Connect to Work
New updates from Connect to Work with 14,000 disabled people and those with health conditions are already receiving personalised, specialist support… Between April 2025 and March 2026, over a quarter of people who received Connect to Work support were aged 16 to 24… This is brilliant.
2.8 million people are currently out of work due to ill-health
This is brilliant progress, but what a mountain to climb. The update highlights that 2.8 million people are currently out of work due to ill-health!
Step outside of the numbers… these are individuals, these are people and lives… This is very similar to my point on NEETs… morally we need to sort this out, all that missed potential is outrageous… but also to the nation (and from the mini reshuffle of senior politicians this week, particularly highlighting the lack of money available in Government to support vital Defence initatives, in a very volitile World at the moment)… this is massively important for the nation… as Mayfield’s Keep Britain Working highlighted that economic inactivity due to ill health bill was massive.. at £212 Billion.. couple that with what Milburn highlights that 1 Million NEETs cost £125 Billion per year… that is like 1/3 of a Trillion. I don’t even know how many zero’s are in that size of number! So it is massively important to the entire nation! Especially with NEETs… 1 million young people not in education or work cost £125 billion per year… but if they were all in work, it would be a net return of £38 Billion. This is massively important to address.
Taking Support ‘out of the building’ and making it accessible
What I think is really interesting about Connect to Work, is that it is geared up to meet the need of participants… who don’t need to be receiving benefits, but the idea is that someone who needs help, can access intensive, one-to-one support from specialist advisers who work around them, meeting in GP surgeries, local cafés, parks or community hubs, wherever feels right for the individual.
Honestly, after the Milburn interim review that highlights that for NEETs… we are at a fork in the road, and the system is geared for the institution (eg college or training provider), not the young person needing support. For me, Connect To Work is potentially the direction of travel for a model to support young people who are NEET… or at Risk of being NEET.
Great progress on Connect to Work, and I couldn’t help but do a mini cheer when I saw the line: the Connect to Work Programme is breaking down barriers to opportunity by helping sick or disabled people, and those with more complex barriers, move out of poverty and into secure employment. The programme is brilliant, but, I loved the line Breaking Barriers!
Thank you to Enginuity and EAL for sponsoring FE Soundbite this week. Do you have the 6th August in your diary for Vocational Celebration Day? How are you celebrating?
Epic Exclusives Thought Leadership Articles
Our Top 3 Thought Leadership Articles This Week
Firstly, Common Sense, Compassion and the Courage to Act: What 26 Years in FE Has Taught Me By Fabienne Bailey, CEO of Gateway Qualifications
Secondly, Is the Social Contract with Young People Broken and Can We Fix It? By Dr Deirdre Hughes OBE, Associate Professor, Institute for Employment Research (IER), University of Warwick, Director of dmh associates & CareerChat UK Ltd.
Finally, Beyond the Label: What the SEND Transition Collective taught us By Professor Amanda Kirby, Founder of Do-IT Solutions and Dr Vikki Smith, Chief Professionalism Officer, at the Education Training Foundation
This week, we also had some other Epic Exclusives!
A Job isn’t Enough for NEETs with Barriers By Iona Ledwidge, CEO of Spear
Breaking Barriers: Why Tackling NEET Requires System Change, Not Another Initiative By Rob West, an Education and Skills Consultant
No More Sheep Dip: What the SEND Transition Collective Revealed About Equity, Courage, and the Boxes We Need to Break By Nathan Whitbread, The Neurodivergent Coach
Why FE and Skills Matters to the Future of Young People and Work By Dr Vikki Smith, Chief Professionalism Officer, Education Training Foundation
What’s New in the World of FE?
Live stream catch up (new season with NCFE): Learning For A Changing World – Ep1 The Missing Million
The Big Interview: Phil Smith on the Skills England Annual Report and Skills Compass
Exclusive from Jacqui Smith: Skills Minister sets out Youth Guarantee plan in Exclusive Breaking Barriers address
Announcements
Nearly 800,000 More Students Have Access To Mental Health Support This Year By the Department for Education (DfE)
Taking Teaching Further 2026 opens for registration: up to £21,200 per recruit for FE teacher training By the Department for Education (DfE)
Thousands Moved Closer to work with Support from Landmark Employment Scheme By the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)
New tools will help Employers Maximise AI Productivity Gains By Skills England
Created With Care: How young adult carers shaped Learning and Work Institute’s new toolkit for FE Colleges in Wales By the Learning and Work Institute
£8.5m work experience boost for young people furthest from the labour market By the The Careers & Enterprise Company
Active IQ and NCFE integration signals new era for active leisure skills and workforce development By NCFE
Appointments
Dame Sarah Healey appointed as the new Permanent Secretary of the DWP By the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)
Voices
Breaking Barriers Collective: Working Together to Tackle Youth Employment Challenges By Lee Reddington, Partnership Director, Occupational Awards Limited
Breaking Barriers or Reinforcing Them? Why Transition Support Must Start Earlier and Go Further By Paul Stannard, Senior Policy Manager AELP
London Tech Week is a chance to consider how our skills system must evolve By Muniya Barua is Deputy Chief Executive of BusinessLDN and Chair of the group’s AI Steering Group, run in partnership with Deloitte
Behind the Numbers: A Million Individual Stories By James Stockdale, Chair of the OCN London Board of Trustees
In The Know
Thursday we have the next episode of Learning for a changing World, Ep2 is Never too late to learn (adult ed and lifelong learning)!
By Danny O’Meara, Operations Manager, FE News and