Primary schools will be required to identify pupils they believe could face being jobless after leaving school at 16, according to the former minister leading a review into the issue.
Review Leader Calls for Early Intervention
Former health secretary Alan Milburn, who is leading the review into young people not in education, employment or training (Neet), said somebody should be “responsible” for supporting children at risk with the first signs available “from pre-school”.
Mr Milburn told The Guardian: “The warning signs are there from a very early, early age. Definitely, primary schools should be identifying children who are at risk of being NEET.”
Intervention in Secondary Schools
He added: “Secondary schools and other services should be intercepting, intervening, supporting and helping those young people to get on a different path. We know what the correlated factors are – whether that is poverty, mental health or being in care. What we don’t do is take that knowledge and turn it into action.”
The final report is due in the autumn and follows Prime Minister Andy Burnham saying he was “on a mission” to curb the number of Neets with plans to open up new technical education routes to 14-year-olds, which will be put on an equal footing with traditional academic pathways.
Welfare Reform and Obligations
Mr Milburn said welfare reform would play a key role in the final report, but argued that a young person reaching the benefit system was a failure in education, skills and health policies.
“We’ve got to turbocharge opportunities for young people, we’ve got to make it easier for young people to get a job,” he said. “And alongside opportunities, of course, there has got to be some obligations.”
Rising NEET Numbers
The latest data, published in May, showed the number of young people aged 16 to 24 neither working nor learning surpassed one million for the first time since 2013, reaching 1.01 million in the three months from January to March.
Mr Burnham’s plans include bursaries worth up to £4,500 a year for households on universal credit to help teenagers take on apprenticeships.
The National Grid is launching a £5 million fund to get 5,000 young people into work over the next five years. The fund will support up to 1,000 young people annually starting in the first half of 2027, with money invested into practical training, employability skills and qualifications needed for jobs in the energy, construction and infrastructure sectors.
