More NEETs Than Vacancies: Can We Fix It in Four Years? | FE Soundbite 848
Welcome to FE Soundbite Edition 848: 23rd May 2026. More NEETs Than Vacancies: Can We Fix It in Four Years?
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
Another really important week. So in Soundbite this week, I am trying to take us on a bit of a journey from more detail on the timetable for Qualification Reform, the Post 16 implementation plan, more details on two new qualifications, Foundation and Occupational Certificates.
Post 16 implementation plan
So this week we got the Post 16 implementation plan… and it’s the most detailed picture we’ve had of where vocational education is heading since the White Paper. V Levels confirmed for 2028. Foundation Certificates. Occupational Certificates. 153 qualifications losing funding from 2027. Construction design, engineering manufacturing, social care, sport. £96 million for construction placements to “plug skills gaps and boost housebuilding”. A four-year reform timeline, almost to the week.
More on Occupation and Foundation Certificates
DfE confirmed more on Occupation and Foundation Certificates. With so much qualification reform happening. There are so many changes to navigate, communicate and understand… in such a short period of time.
What are Occupation and Foundation Certificates.. so a quick run down:
Occupational Certificates: two-year courses for those who want to get into work or an apprenticeship…but need support to achieve English and Maths GCSEs.
Foundation Certificates: one-year courses for students who want to progress to A-levels, T-levels or V-levels but need extra support to pass their GCSEs.
Qualification Practitioners
So to be fair, DfE have realised this. There are now also Qualification Practitioners… A new sector-led group, ‘Qualification Practitioners’, has been created to ‘lead the way for the sector’, shaping and sharing best practice as providers transition to the new qualifications. Providers will be required to have robust transition plans to support staff, students, and employers through the change. However…
Have we built in time for the Qualification reform cascade of understanding?
Where is the communication support to help the sector… and those out of the sector understand the qualification reform changes?
Have DfE and DWP on what is a very tight roll out timeline, built in what I could describe as the ‘Qualification Reform Cascade of understanding’… from Awarding Organisations taking the vision, the hours, the programme and shaping these, creating resources all with a regulated environment (quality takes time and care)… to then this passing next to Providers…. then to their staff…. do employers know and understand what the new suite of qualifications are?… and their level or value?
Do parents understand… do those ‘feeding’ FE and Skills (schools and careers advice and guidance specialists)… do they know what the new range of qualifications are and who they are for? Do those taking from FE and Skills.. employers or University via UCAS points.. understand the new quals, timelines and value … is everything communicated well, that everyone understands the changes? Personally, I’d say, no… much more effort now needs to be on communicating what this is, inside and outside the sector.
So how are we getting on with recruiting and retaining FE educators? To deliver this?
The exclusive article we had from Michael Scott at NFER is really interesting timing. Michael unpacked the recent NFER annual FE teacher workforce report… 1,650 more FE teachers in 2024/25, a 4% jump, the retention incentive starting to bite… and construction, engineering and manufacturing still have the highest vacancy rates in the workforce. Which is, of course, exactly where the £96 million in construction placements needs to be delivered. But we’re struggling to recruit these specialisms. Also, DfE are now looking at retention data more regularly (as they weren’t before)… so at least, longer term if we have the data, we can plug the gaps, or know the sectors to recruit for.
However, on the FE teacher recruitment and retention data… progress has been made…. but where is the data on Apprenticeships and ITPs delivering the Apprenticeship route (surely this needs to be joined up). What is the Apprenticeship route workforce looking like, where is the data and how can we know if we need to push and plug more gaps there (especially with the push from Gov for youth Apprenticeships)….. it needs a whole support network to deliver these too… with very different skill sets and specialisms again.
More NEETs than Job Vacancies
Then we have the reality of the job market… ONS released the latest labour market data…. Youth unemployment is now at 14.7%. One in seven young people is looking for work… this is the highest rate in more than a decade outside the pandemic. 22.7% of young jobseekers are out of work for over a year. With just 705,000… the lowest since February 2021. Redundancies higher than a year ago. Wage growth is slowing. It is alarming! The reality is that there are more NEETs than vacancies! … and London still has the highest regional unemployment rate in the UK at 7.3% (this has been the case all of 2026)!
What do employers actually value… and what do learners want to actually study?
Greg Birzes from Pearson wrote a very interesting article converging two report findings on Value of Certifications, from both employer and candidates / learners / staff… which I thought was really interesting. What do employers really want and need to have the competitive edge, in a fast changing world of work. If we step back a mo, what could this mean for the future design of Apprenticeship units… what is valued… or additional Certifications or Micro Credentials we could add in addition to regulated quals to help young and old be job ready and attractive to employers?
Lots of reform, lots of change, lots of questions remaining… and the clock is ticking, against a hard deadline!
Anyway, have a brilliant bank holiday and I hope you enjoy FE Soundbite this week.
Epic Exclusives Thought Leadership Articles
Our Top 3 Thought Leadership Articles This Week
Why Collaborative, Contextualised Benchmarking is now Essential for UK Colleges By Phil Moseley, Senior Consultant, Performance Benchmarking at Etio
The Certification Advantage: A Unified Strategy for a Resilient Workforce in the AI Era By Greg Birzes, Technology Officer, Pearson Professional Assessments
FE Teacher Workforce: Progress made, but Shortages Persist By Michael Scott, Senior Economist at the National Foundation for Educational Research(NFER)
This week, we also had some other Epic Exclusives!
The Infrastructure Blind Spot in Online Exams By Dr. James Gupta, CEO and Founder of Synap
AI Might Accelerate Processes. It Still Can’t Sit With Ambiguity By Mitzi Danielson-Kaslik MICA CG, Risk, Governance & Compliance
What’s New in the World of FE?
Rewriting the Rules: Rethinking the Future of Assessment
Announcements
Post-16 Pathways Implementation Plan: 2028 V Levels Confirmed and 153 Qualifications Lose Funding
£96 Million for Construction Placements With New Occupational and Foundation Certificates Announced From 2028 By the Department for Education (DfE)
International SEND Alliance to share ‘what works’ Across Borders By the Department for Education (DfE)
Report
NAO sets out eight recommendations to strengthen DfE oversight of local bodies By the National Audit Office (NAO)
New findings from Jisc highlight the benefits of a Collaborative Approach to AI in Assessment By Jisc
Six spin-outs emerge during the Research England Pilot By the University of the Arts London (UAL)
Voices
FE has a Chance to lead on Responsible AI Capability By Dr. Paul Jung, CEO and Co-founder at Medly
In The Know
Join us for the Breaking Barriers Collective event in partnership with Edge Foundation, working together collectively to solve the NEET puzzle. We only have a few tickets left
This isn’t a conference; it’s a collective. It isn’t a chalk-and-talk event, but an interactive one. It’s rolling up your sleeves and making real change, where you get involved and actually give real input. Join us and help shape the sector!
By Danny O’Meara, Operations Manager, FE News and