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Welcome to FE Soundbite Edition 823: 15th November 2025. Milburn, Mayfield and Timms: Why Are They So Important To The FE, Skills And Employability Sector? | FE Soundbite Edition 823
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
So many announcements again this week... but the budget is less than two weeks away and this is significant. So all of these announcements are fresh in the mind of Treasury and the 'bean counters'. Last week we had Keep Britain Working... which is about the £212 Billion annual welfare bill due to economic inactivity due to ill health. Literally the day after last week's Soundbite connected economic inactivity and ill health with NEET data, the Milburn Review was announced! Spooky!
Mayfield Review, Milburn Review and Timms Reviews
We've had new review overload... and all very similar sounding reviews... but you can bet your life this is going into the upcoming budget! Mayfield Review - is the Keep Britain Working Review (£212 Billion annual costs for economic inactivity due to ill health), Milburn Review is NEETs and Economic Inactivity due to ill health.. and particularly mental health... and the Timms Review is all about PIP and Benefits! All again linked to that massive welfare bill... the budget is all about 'bridging a £20 Billion 'Black Hole' rhetoric, this is literally 10% of the annual cost for economic inactivity due to ill health. THIS IS VERY MUCH A PART OF THE CALCULATIONS FOR ALLOCATION IN THE BUDGET!
But... the review names... are sooo similar! Why?
Milburn Review on NEETs - significant findings
For me, the Milburn Review will definitely be a part of the budget calculations. Over a quarter of NEET young people now cite long-term sickness or disability as a barrier to participation, compared to just 12% in 2013/14?!
Further to this, the number of young people claiming UC health and Employment Support Allowance has increased by more than 50% in the last five years, with 80% of young people on the UC Health element currently citing mental health reasons or a neurodevelopmental condition among declared health conditions.
Keep Britain Working Review also stated that if someone in their early 20's leaves the World of work due to ill health.. the cost to the state is £1M per person... and the individual loses £1M in potential earnings. This is MASSIVE!
If I was in Treasury, this would be top of the list to look at.. and look at the track record of senior Treasury types... like previous PM Rishi Sunak... he launched KickStart and ReStart employability programmes after the pandemic when he was Chancellor (we had this exclusive with Rishi in his KickStart hoodie when he launched KickStart on FE News), as he wanted to increase employability and reduce the number of NEETs or Economically inactive.
Jump Start
I can assure you now... it will be the same in the Budget on the 26th November! I was always waiting for Jump Start to be launched after KickStart and ReStart back in the day... but this is what we need to reduce the Welfare Bill... interestingly, the latest NEET figures are due out next week... literally a week before the Budget.. will it now exceed 1 Million NEETs?
We also had the Latest Office For National Statistics labour market data out this week. Vacancy numbers.. finally stabilised (as they had been falling for 37 consecutive quarters.. that is a very, very long time)! We currently have an Unemployment Rate of an estimated 5% of the population of working-age adults.
The UK employment rate for people aged 16 to 64 years was estimated at 75.0% in July to September 2025 (the Government has an 80% employment rate target).
Youth Guarantee... erm!
Work Foundation also looked at the latest figures on zero-hour contracts, and they have found that 1.2 million people are on zero-hour contracts, the second highest on record. Interestingly... here are now 508,000 young workers aged 16-24 on zero-hour contracts – the highest level on record. Remember Youth Guarantee... erm, that will definitely get a mention in the budget.
Disabled People In Work Is 30 Percentage Points Below That For People Without A Disability
Dr Helen Gray, chief economist at Learning and Work Institute (L&W), highlights from the ONS Labour Market Data: “The employment rate for disabled people remains a staggering 30 percentage points below that for people without a disability. Only half of all people of working age with long-term health problems are in employment and this has barely changed since before the Covid pandemic. Yet only one in ten out-of-work disabled people get help to find work each year. Employment support needs to be extended to a much larger proportion of the 741,000 people who are currently economically inactive due to long-term sickness who want to work.”
50% Of Prisoners Are Not Involved In Prison Education Or Work
The cross-party Justice Committee released a report on Friday... and it's shocking. Particularly when the report highlights that 80% of all offending in England and Wales... is reoffending.
Couple this with the report findings that 50% of prisoners are not involved in prison education or work! No wonder the Prisoners are not accessing that much education... as the report also highlighted... that many prisoners are locked up for 22 hours or more each day, with limited access to fresh air, showers, or rehabilitative activities! It is 2025, not 1825!
75% Of Prisons Inspected By Ofsted In 2024/25 Were Rated ‘inadequate’ or ‘showing no improvement’
On top of this: 75% of prisons inspected by Ofsted in 2024/25 were rated ‘inadequate’ or ‘showing no improvement’. The Government, MPs said, must publish a clear plan to improve both participation and quality in prison education.
Again... this has to be a part of the Budget calculations mix!
A lot of people in the sector are focusing on the Curriculum and Assessment Review... which is fine... but on the same week, we also had Keep Britain Working released. I can assure you.. this is going to be mentioned in the Budget, V Levels might get a mention, Post 16 White Paper, 2:3 young people with higher skills... CAR is important, but when you look at the £212bn Welfare Bill, I know which one Treasury is focused on!
How do we as a sector ensure we communicate to Treasury, (and the real purse string holders), that FE, Skills and the Employability sector has the ideas, the solutions and actions to drive down economic Inactivity? To reduce the annual costs and what will soon be called 'burden' to the UK economy. As this is key... Treasury is under pressure to balance the books, we have the solutions and this is all totally interconnected!
Sector Announcement Keyword Bingo In the Upcoming Budget
I am actually going to be in the air during the budget, travelling back from the WISE 12 Conference to the FAB annual conference... I land and have to go... but I am thinking it will be a bit like sector-key-announcement bingo in the upcoming budget!
Longer term... How do we communicate to Treasury that our sector has the solutions to drive down this £212bn cost? We have a big announcement coming next week from an idea and solution on how you can get involved in this... so watch this space!
I hope you enjoy FE Soundbite this week!
Epic Exclusives Thought Leadership Articles
Our Top 3 Thought Leadership Articles This Week
Firstly, Pilots Show that the Renewed Inspection Framework Looks and Feels very Different By Denise Olander, Deputy Director, Post-16 Education, Training and Skills at Ofsted
Secondly, Beyond Routine: The Role of Skills, Education, and Technology in Middle-Skill Occupations By Katherine Emms, Education and Policy Senior Researcher at the Edge Foundation and Dr Andrea Laczik, Director of Research at the Edge Foundation
Finally, L&D in the Apprenticeship Sector: From Compliance to Coaching Cultures By Amy Brown, Head of Performance at the Impact Futures Group
This week, we also had some other Epic Exclusives!
(A)FE and Skills as Place-Based Green Changemakers, A Personal Reflection of the Green Mindset Collective By Dr Lou Mycroft, Green ChangeMaker
Designing Accessible Learning Experiences for Every Student By Dr. Amy Lomellini, Director of Accessibility at Anthology
What’s New in the World of FE?
Green Mindset Interviews
Building Britain’s Green Skills Pipeline: Toby Perkins MP on Vocational Education’s Critical Role
From Micro to Macro: Dr Katerina Kolyva on Embedding The Green Mindset Throughout FE and Skills
The 3% Solution: Dr Lou Mycroft on How FE Can Lead the Green Revolution
Beyond the Bolt-On: Dr Vikki Smith on Making Sustainability Instinctive in FE
From Piecemeal to Mainstream: Charlotte Bonner on Universalising the Green Mindset in FE
Announcements
New College Support Teams Unveiled to Benefit Around 70k Students By the Department for Education (DfE)
Milburn Review – An Independent Investigation To Be Launched To Tackle Raising NEETs By the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP)
Helen Hayes Replies to Bridget Phillipson’s letter delaying SEND White Paper By the Education Select Committee
OfS sets out its Vision for Exemplary HE Regulation with a new Strategy for 2025-30 By the Office for Students (OfS)
Government Launches Water Skills Group with £104Bn Investment to Create 30k+ Jobs By the Department for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs (DfEFRA)
£500,000 Expansion of Creative Futures, With The King’s Trust and Idris Elba To Unlock Creative Careers For Young People By the Department for Culture, Media and Sport (DfCMS)
‘Dire’ prison conditions putting rehabilitation and reoffending reduction ‘at risk’, Justice Committee warns By the Justice Committee
Ofsted's New 'explore an area' Explained By Ofsted
Reports
ONS Labour Market Data : UK Unemployment Rate Now Estimated At 5% By the Office for National Statistics (ONS)
Digital Baseline, New Report from AoC, Ufi and Jisc Explores Digital Transformation in FE By Ufi VocTech Trust
No Train, No Gain: Working Class People Paid More When They Get Training From Their Employer By the Learning and Work Institute
Appointments
Professor Chris Millward Interim Appointed as Director for Fair Access and Participation By the Department for Education (DfE)
Voices
Employers Need Clarity and Confidence in Post-16 Skills Reform By Robert West, Head of Skills at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI)
The Curriculum Review Is a Welcome Step, But Real Change Requires a Revolution By Dr Tej Samani, CEO and Founder of Performance Learning
Partnership, Collaboration and Specialisation: The Pathway to Realising the Post-16 Vision By Gareth John, Policy Director at accountancy training provider First Intuition
Tomorrow’s Engineers Week: Inspiring the next generation By Beatrice Barleon, Head of Policy and Public Affairs at EngineeringUK
In The Know
Join us on Feb 12th in London for our SEND collective intelligence event. Where you'll co-create strategies and policy recommendations alongside sector leaders. This isn't lectures, it's rolling up sleeves and making real change. This isn't just SEND, this is Neuro-inclusion and breaking down the silos to help every learner, not just 16-18, but all life long. This is a massively important Collective, so help shape the report!
We hope you enjoy FE Soundbite this week. Stay curious, keep innovating, and let's shake up the world of FE together, and catch you next week!
By Danny O’Meara, Operations Manager, FE News and | 