Call for guaranteed access to support for NEET young people
Joe Lepper
Thursday, September 28, 2023
A coalition of youth employment organisations is calling on the government to guarantee young people who are not in education, training or employment (NEET) access to support.
The guarantee should be made available to all young people under the age of 25 within four months of leaving a job or formal education, according to the Youth Employment Group (YEG) coalition, which is calling for the pledge to be put in place.
The move could generate £69bn for the UK economy though long-term savings in benefits and increased tax revenues, it said, adding that more than 790,000 young people are NEET, up almost a quarter over the last two years.
The pledge also specifies that young people at risk of being NEET should be supported in school. This includes those who are persistently absent from school.
Such risk factors “are already apparent at primary school” and “early intervention fan help reduce the risk as a young person gets older”, said the YEG.
Another part of the guarantee is a commitment from government to create a joint Department for Work and Pensions and Department for Education minister responsible for tackling youth unemployment.
“Responsibility for youth unemployment is fragmented", warns the YEG, with inactive young people falling between the roles of the DWP as they do not receive benefits and the DfE as they are over the age of 18.
In addition, the coalition wants to see a work and training placement scheme piloted for young people who are long term NEET.
Better options at levels 2 and 3 are also needed to increase opportunities for young people. The current post-16 education offer “lacks the necessary volume and quality of provision to help all progress”, said the coalition.
It also wants to see incentives to employers to hire young people with disabilities and long-term health conditions.
Employment support through Youth Hubs, which is currently restricted to benefits claimants, should be universally available, added the YEG.
The proposals have been sent to Prime Minister Rishi Sunak in an open letter signed by 60 coalition organisations, including Impetus, Catch 22, The Prince’s Trust, Youth Futures Foundation and London Youth.
The Youth Employment Group is calling on the Government to adopt a Young Person’s Guarantee.
— Youth Futures Foundation (@YF_Foundation) September 27, 2023
The Guarantee proposes a transformational offer for our young people and lays out a route to improving outcomes for young people across England.
👉 https://t.co/F3XiKqcooL
“Time spent neither learning nor earning can permanently dent a young person's life chances, and despite the efforts of many years, the proportion of young people who are NEET remains far too high,” said guarantee author and Impetus senior policy advisor Phoebe Arslanagić-Wakefield.
“Based on best practice and firmly focused on what works, our recommended interventions can jumpstart the process of changing that story and improving our offer to young people, helping them to find work and get the best start, to all our social and economic benefits."
