The Hard Truth – The NEET Crisis We Can’t Ignore

The numbers speak for themselves—too many young people are slipping through the cracks. The latest ONS data released this week (February 2025) paints a stark picture: nearly 1 million young people are NEET (Not in Education, Employment, or Training), a figure that has grown by over 110,000 in the space of 12 months and that now represents over 13% of all 16–24-year-olds! The 18-24 age group is facing a growing crisis, and over half a million are not just unemployed but economically inactive, neither working nor seeking work – a figure that rose by over 30,000 when compared to the previous three months.

This issue isn’t just about statistics—it’s about real lives. In North Somerset, 8.9% of 16-17-year-olds are NEET, well above regional and national averages. Many of these young people have undiagnosed learning difficulties and have disengaged from formal education, with school attendance rates below 50%. School exclusions are rising at an alarming rate, with a 44% increase in permanent exclusions in just one year. The consequences are severe: 100% of young people involved in County Lines crime had been excluded from school, and over half of the young adults in custody were persistently absent during their school years.

This is a crisis we cannot afford to ignore. If we fail to act, the ripple effects will be felt across society for generations. The question is—what are we going to do about it?

At Weston College, we have spent the past six months critically evaluating our region and redefining our curriculum and specialisms to fulfil our mission of ‘Creating Brighter Futures.’ This process began in September when our Executive Team analysed extensive data to understand our region, its people, and the College’s role. We then hosted a series of ‘Discovery Days’ with key people across our organisation—including our governing body, senior management, and all managers—to share insights and spark discussions. Through these sessions, we explored challenges, nuances, and aspirations to begin to shape a curriculum that truly meets the needs of our community.

Some of our key themes and challenges were:

• Complexity and number of learners with SEND and the intersection with increasing disadvantaged young people.
• The number of 16-19 learners enrolling in Level 1 programs has surged significantly, driven by declining attainment levels in the local area, shifting learning behaviours, and changing attitudes toward education.
• Whether a Level 1 curriculum is now obtainable for some of our region’s school leavers and does our Pre-Vocational Foundation Curriculum need refinement and investment?
• A growing concern that some learners’ starting points equate to them being farther away from the workplace than their counterparts in previous years, especially compared to those pre-Covid.
• Our curriculum has excelled in equipping learners with industry-specific skills, aligning closely with local workforce needs – reflected in our strong skills judgment in last year’s inspection. Spearheaded by the 4^th Industrial Revolution, with rapid technological advancements and ever-evolving industries, the skills required for success are changing. The rise of ‘boundaryless careers’ further underscores the need for a broader skill framework that prepares learners to thrive in today’s workforce. A recent Forbes article highlights the key skills that will be crucial for young people entering the job market: Council Post: 19 Skills Employees Will Need In The Next Five Years.

Fast forward four months and having delivered some further insight sessions to curriculum colleagues on key topics such as funding, curriculum design, English and maths, LMI, SEND and inclusive education, we sit here at the end of February having just completed all curriculum business planning panels for the 25/26 academic year. So, when we look back to the challenges alluded to earlier, what are some of the big-ticket items we as a college will be doing to proactively tackle NEET numbers, raise aspirations and support wider social mobility and justice…

Building an Inclusive, Multi-pathway Pre-vocational Curriculum

Our programme provides a flexible starting point for learners who have been out of education, are NEET, or face barriers to learning. Students can build their own timetable when ready, developing key skills such as communication, confidence, teamwork and wider meta-cognitive techniques while preparing for full-time study.

With a strong focus on empowerment and mentoring, we integrate enterprise and community projects to help learners make informed decisions about their future. By collaborating with social workers, NEET Teams, schools, PRUs, and employers, we offer a holistic support system that fosters self-awareness, responsibility, and ambition—all underpinned by the Preparing for Adulthood agenda.

Our tiered Pre-Vocational Curriculum model, accessed via the NEET Assessment Hub, ensures all learners have a clear path to success. Whether through bespoke alternative provision or our three-stage Re-Engage curriculum, students are given the space to explore, take risks, and grow. The final tier, Extension Studies, acts as a bridge to Level 1 study, with trauma-informed support to help learners transition smoothly.

To ensure long-term success, we are embedding a trauma-informed approach across all cross-college areas, upskilling staff to provide the right support. By maintaining an inclusive curriculum and strengthening transition processes, we empower learners with the technical, personal, and resilience skills needed to thrive at Level 1 and beyond.

STEPS to a Brighter Future

At Weston College, we know that our learners’ personal development is an ongoing journey that takes place both inside and beyond the classroom. Our ambitious new personal development curriculum, STEPS was launched in the Autumn of 2023.

Skills / Topical points / Engagement / Progression /Self-management

STEPS equips learners with the knowledge, skills, and mindset to thrive in a modern, global world, aligning with our ethos: ready to learn, ready for work, ready for life. Over the past year, STEPS has been further refined and fully embedded across all provision types and levels and is key to providing learners with ‘wow’ moments (community, public and employer-facing learning experiences) that raise aspiration, but also provide endless opportunities to further develop the knowledge, skills and behaviours to succeed in their chosen career.

In the new academic year, we will introduce a Future Skills framework under the ‘S’ of STEPS. Developed in collaboration with internal and external stakeholders, this framework will underpin our curriculum and ensure learners are prepared for an evolving workforce. It focuses on five core skills, each supported by three sub-skills mapped across academic, digital, and universal categories. This model will shape curriculum design, schemes of learning, and learner behaviour across all provisions.

Through our Brighter Futures Hub, an innovative digital learning platform, learners will assess their development areas, build skills through integrated e-modules, and earn digital badges to track progress of their Future Skills throughout their programme.

Collaboration and Targeted Intervention

We are fortunate at Weston to be a key partner of a very proactive and effective Combined-Authority Careers Hub (West of England). Our relationship and partnership work have allowed us to access not only resources but also grant funding to enhance the outcomes for our learners. As a result of the refined Gatsby Benchmarks that all schools, colleges and ITPs will need to be working towards from September 2025 (The Careers and Enterprise Company’s (CEC) ‘Ready for the Future report’ (2022) showed that for each Gatsby Benchmark achieved by a school or college, the likelihood of a young person being NEET is reduced by 1.1%), we are leading on a Risk of Neet Indicator (RONI) project with them and the Careers and Enterprise Company to raise aspiration and outcomes through putting on additional targeted employer encounters where we know we have learners that map into RONI, as well as lower than expected progression rates, as well as working with our local schools to support them with this, to reduce NEET numbers within North Somerset.

Alongside this, we are early adopters of the refined Gatsby Benchmarks and have contributed to their development through Good Career Guidance: The Next 10 Years, in partnership with the Gatsby Foundation.

We recognise that parental engagement plays a crucial role in student success. Strengthening our proactive relationship with parents will be a key focus, ensuring they are actively involved in supporting young people to progress and achieve their potential.

Still a Long Way to Go

These are just a few of the many initiatives we are implementing to tackle the NEET challenge. We are also taking this further by having recently appointed a Director of Social Justice and Student Support to tackle some of the historic inequalities we see in our local society and who will drive collaboration across the College and with the community to ensure all our young people have the same rights, opportunities, access to high-quality education.

As part of a broader, collaborative effort, I am hopeful that we—alongside other FE colleges with their own targeted approaches—can make a real impact in reducing these numbers.

By Ben Knocks, Vice Principal at Weston College