Almost a million young people in this country are currently not in education, employment or training (NEET) with many classed as ‘economically inactive’.
That means that they’ve completely disengaged from even trying to find a better future.
It also means that we, as a society, have failed them.
Those most commonly in this situation are young people with SEND, who are 80% more likely to be NEET.
In his recent report on NEETs, Alan Milburn warned that “the risk is that SEND need rises faster than the system is capable of reforming.”
Those of us who work with young people have seen this crisis first-hand and want to see reform.
But what needs to change?
A greater focus on mental health
According to the Milburn report, around 60% of NEET young people may have a mental health-related challenge. This is why careers guidance now needs to be integrated with wellbeing support.
At Progress Careers we work with over 6,000 young people annually, delivering careers education, information, advice and guidance. Often, we get 45 minutes to talk to each student because that’s all that the school’s budget can stretch to.
Imagine meeting a struggling young person, especially one with SEND, for just 45 minutes and trying to build up a rapport, earn their trust, and explore their hopes and aspirations.
We can often be the first ‘professional’ they have encountered who really tries to listen to them, which can open up a deep well of emotions and feelings.
This is why our careers advisers often adopt a more holistic approach, combining career development with whole-person support so they can remove some of those barriers, before even starting to discuss jobs.
Video interviews, psychometric testing and automated screening make it hard for SEND young people to break into the workplace
Obviously, this needs significantly more than just 45 minutes, so that young people don’t have to have these difficult conversations over and over again.
This can also help those who are flying under the radar, who are not causing any problems and therefore not getting any attention.
They might seem fine, but they are coasting and are much more likely to end up completely disengaging.
Cutting red tape for employers
Too many employers don’t really understand young people, the challenges they face or how they can meet their needs.
Young people want flexibility in their work patterns, they want their achievements to be recognised, they want to be understood as individuals with all their complexities.
Of course, there needs to be a balance between supporting a younger workforce and meeting business needs, but that should not be too much to ask.
Gone are the days when young employees were expected to keep quiet and get on with a job. Employers need to listen to young people and learn how they can benefit from working together.
I’ve seen how well this can work, especially for people with SEND.
A specialist sixth form I recently visited reached out to a law firm because they had young autistic people who wanted to work in the legal sector. Sending in a young person to talk to the company led them to change their recruitment practices to be more inclusive.
Shifts in the way employers hire people are also making it harder for young people to get into work.
Video interviews, psychometric testing and automated screening, as well as entry level jobs that require years of experience, make it hard for SEND young people to break through in the workplace.
In the past, work experience placements played a big role in giving young people a taste of the workplace, as well as the chance to try out potential careers before making big decisions about college and university.
They aren’t being prepared for work when the curriculum teaches them Pythagoras instead of basic financial literacy
But even these are harder to arrange because of increased levels of government-imposed bureaucracy.
Employers don’t have the time or resources to fill out the necessary paperwork, so they’re put off getting involved, meaning young people miss out.
Preparation for the world
According to the Milburn report, only 47% of young people feel work-ready when leaving education, so it’s hardly a surprise that so many end up NEET.
They aren’t being prepared for work when the curriculum teaches them Pythagoras instead of basic financial literacy and managing money.
It isn’t just entry level jobs that are disappearing from the landscape either, and entry level courses are much harder to find for young people who are lower-attainers.
T-Levels and V-Levels still exclude those without the right qualifications and the same can be said for too many apprenticeships.
So what happens to these students after compulsory education?
Where do we go from here?
Accepting that every young person has individual hopes and dreams has to be the start.
Offering them longer-term holistic support, not just with careers but also their ability to navigate their next steps and overcome barriers, is a shift that is taking place in our business already.
But it needs to be embedded into the whole system and to be brought in early enough.
This must happen before they reach the age of 18, when we see a significant drop-off in engagement as school responsibility ends, local authority tracking reduces and they move into fragmented systems and fall through the cracks.
Out of work and out of sight.
We need to offer hope, guidance and individual support to young people, whether they are already NEET or are at risk of it. We cannot continue to let them down.
