Young people who risk becoming NEET will be the focus of Get Britain Working cash handed to mayors this year.
Alongside its employment white paper published last year, the government gave £240 million in “place-based trailblazer” funding to several regional mayors, the Welsh government and local NHS boards, to test ways of reducing economic inactivity.
Most regions have now published plans to tackle the number of young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET), and on helping adults with health issues or caring responsibilities into work.
Among the measures are improved tracking for teenagers up to 19, so regional officials have a clearer picture of where their young people end up.
Youth (16-24) NEET numbers have topped 980,000, according to the Office for National Statistics’ latest estimates. The government also wants to rein in welfare spending, which is forecast to grow from £313 billion to £373 billion by 2030, and plans to cut health and disability benefits for young people alongside its ‘youth guarantee’ to “remove any potential disincentive to work”.
Laura-Jane Rawlings, chief executive officer of Youth Employment UK, said mayoral staff were “working hard” to pilot new approaches.
But she added all face significant time and resource pressures to begin delivering this year, due to the government’s one-year timeline for funding.
Meanwhile, officials at West Yorkshire Combined Authority warned there was “considerable” risk that some initiatives “will not be delivered” by the March 2026 funding cliff edge.
Here are some of the key initiatives:
Tracking destinations
Three regional mayors plan to spend cash on “enhanced destination tracking” systems for 17 to 19 year olds to gather extra intelligence on their “activities and destinations”.
Historically, local authorities were responsible for tracking young people’s destinations up to age 19, but in 2016 this was relaxed to the academic year they turned 18.
Liverpool City Region said the rule change meant local focus on young people’s outcomes had suffered after the age of 17.
It said the authority will develop “enhanced” tracking of 17 year olds, which will extend to a “targeted proportion” of 18 year olds, and it will explore the tracking of care leavers up to age 21.
The West of England has set aside £510,000 for a similar “tracker system” and “NEET indicator data rollout”.
Subsidised work
The idea of Kickstart-style paid work placement schemes has proved popular, with five mayors seeking to introduce local versions.
Kickstart was a £1.1 billion government scheme launched during the pandemic that offered around 163,000 subsidised work placements for young people receiving universal credit from 2020 to 2022.
Liverpool City Region is offering employers £3,000 “incentives” to recruit selected 18 to 24 year olds, while Tees Valley will fund 620 work placements and “taster sessions”.
In the East Midlands young people will be offered “flexible learning and work placements”, especially those from “disadvantaged backgrounds or who face health challenges”.
West Yorkshire will use £4 million to fund up to 400 placements and “wraparound support” for young people with the aim of securing permanent employment.
West Midlands Combined Authority told FE Week it will test “slightly different” work experience models across its region. One model is its Path2Apprenticeships programme, which offers paid training and work experience to people aged 19 to 29.
Tailored help
Most mayors are creating dedicated teams to provide services.
This includes mental health specialists, pre-apprenticeship courses and programmes for people from disadvantaged areas.
South Yorkshire’s Pathways to Work programme will provide £10 million for the county’s local authorities and £8 million for the NHS to help up to 3,000 people secure jobs. It is building a “triage” system that promises to make it “quicker and easier” to connect people with employment, health and skills support.
Targeting employers
Employers will also be encouraged to offer job opportunities to young people. “Coordinated” engagement is being rolled out by some mayors, including in the East Midlands.
York and North Yorkshire will offer advice, toolkits and support to help businesses develop “inclusive and healthy” workplaces, while West of England has budgeted £425,000 for “coordinated employer engagement”.
Listen to the youth
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough is the only combined authority planning a “youth forum” that will place “young voices at the centre” of its plans.
The forum will “offer young people a platform” to guide the programme, identify barriers to employment and ensure the combined authority’s programme is “youth friendly”.
Support for care leavers
A collaboration of 12 London boroughs will run a scheme focused solely on moving care leavers aged from 17 to 25 into employment, education or training.
The programme will “build an evidence base” about what works to improve outcomes for care leavers, who face “significant social and economic disadvantage,” including a lack of formal qualifications and living in unstable housing.
A Department for Work and Pensions spokesperson said: “We are determined that no young person gets left behind as we drive up growth and opportunity in every corner of the country through our Plan for Change.
“Our trailblazers will identify those most at risk of falling out of education or employment as we ensure every young person is given the opportunity to earn or learn through our Youth Guarantee.”
So even more competition for T level placements. One hand doesn’t know what the other is doing. Well intentioned but ultimately competing policy. Only in England !!!