Government policy on English and maths resits and reforms to technical qualifications are putting young people at risk of becoming NEET, a new report suggests.

The commission on post-16 education and training, led by Youth Employment UK, has proposed a “young person’s entitlement” which would give every young person a personalised route through qualifications and into employment.

Its report, published today during the Annual Apprenticeship Conference, found too much “complex” policy focus on level 3 and above qualifications and excluded large groups of young people, including some learners with SEND, learning at lower levels.

The commission also slammed the government’s English and maths GCSE resit policy for putting “many young people at risk of becoming NEET (not in employment, education or training)”.

For young apprentices, the report said it was “costly and time consuming” for employers to support them to reach English and maths standards. They said this was likely to “restrict social mobility” because “many” employers would rather insist on level 2 English and maths standards as entry criteria.

The commission called on the government to allow more young people to take lower level English and maths courses, including those without an EHCP or formal SEND diagnosis.

This comes as the government doubles down on its compulsory English and maths resit policy.

A new minimum teaching hours requirement for English and maths was announced during half term alongside the phased removal of the 5 per cent condition of funding tolerance.

Beyond ABS

In 2022, 8.4 per cent of 16-18-year-olds were NEET, up from 7 per cent the year before.

The report outlined concerns that too many young people were not receiving “appropriate” careers education and work experience, which can lead to learners picking the wrong pathway and increased dropout rates.

To produce recommendations, the commission identified Kettering and Darlington as two areas with average youth unemployment in England.

The commission found local concerns that DfE does not have “sufficiently fine-grained data to know how qualifications reform is impacting on young people”.

“It is disadvantaged students who are most likely to find themselves with no, or unsuitable, pathways,” the report said.

The commission made several recommendations for the short term. These include pausing and reviewing plans to defund qualifications and reviewing compulsory English and maths resits.

It also recommended to “work with employers to make English and maths an exit, rather than entry, requirement particularly for apprenticeships, and provide resources and funding to enable young people to achieve that”.

The commission agreed with the government’s intention to develop the Advanced British Standard but stressed that “too many young people could fall through the gaps” once rolled out.

“There’s some really good stuff in [the ABS], but actually, it’s very level three focused,” Laura-Jane Rawlings, CEO of Youth Employment UK, told delegates at the AAC 2024.

“What happens to our entry-level – level 1 and level 2 – I wanted to develop our commission showing the Young Person’s Entitlement, which is a step after the ABS that includes everybody.”

Its recommendation for the long term was a more “flexible” form of post-16 education called the young person’s entitlement.

“Our recommendations are for post-16 education and skills, but we believe that the young person’s entitlement should also underpin a review of KS4 curriculum,” the report added.

The framework encompasses four reforms: 

1. Clear pathways for young people who want to move into apprenticeships, and supported apprenticeships for those who require them.
2. A meaningful programme of work experience, at different ages and stages of the learner journey, from the earliest ages possible, and a clear understanding of what makes for good work/industry placements.
3. A progressive careers programme that is embedded in school and college provision, supporting pupils from an early age to make the best choices. 
4. English and maths qualifications that are proportionate to pupils’ level of study and course content, and properly embedded in all pathways including apprenticeships.

Rawlings added: “During the commission, the plans for an Advanced British Standard were announced and so the commission used the evidence gathered to also look at long-term education and skills reform. And I am delighted to bring to this Report the Young Person’s Entitlement, a new framework for post-16 education. 

“The entitlement puts young people back at the heart of the education and skills system, and sets a bold and ambitious plan for realising a system that will meet the needs of the learner, employer and the future world, whatever that may look like in 10 or 20 years’ time.”

Labour’s proposed reform of the apprenticeship levy to fund other types of training will not “devalue” apprenticeships, the shadow skills minister has claimed.

Seema Malhotra attempted to reassure today’s Annual Apprenticeship Conference that plans for a “growth and skills levy” present “pretty broad opportunities” to training providers while insisting that the money is there to expand the scheme.

Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer has announced his intention to reform the apprenticeship levy so that it can be spent on other types of training if the party comes into power.

The “growth and skills levy” would allow businesses to use 50 per cent of their funds to pay for non-apprenticeship training. 

Sector leaders have warned that such a plan threatens to devalue apprenticeships and there is a danger that employers might be driven to the easiest training option.

The current government’s attack line also claims that Labour’s plan would limit the country to 140,000 apprenticeship starts per year – around half the current rate.

But Malhotra, who was appointed as Labour’s shadow skills minister in September, rejected the concerns.

She told today’s conference: “I don’t think that’s likely at all, and I’ll give you my reasons why. 

“Firstly, we’ve said 50 per cent of the levy would still, as a minimum need to be spent on apprenticeships. And in actual fact, that is probably about what is currently spent by many employers. 

“The proposal is actually greater flexibility for different types of courses because we are hearing that a broad range of adult skills and retraining, where it’s not always possible to deliver an apprenticeship, that having more modular and more stackable courses [is desired]. Those are pretty broad opportunities for training providers. 

“I don’t think it will be a replacement, I think it [the growth and skills levy] will be a really important valuable addition that will also keep our skills system competitive, and create the best possible choices that we need for our learner.”

Labour would continue 95% SME co-investment

Experts have also warned Labour’s growth and skills levy would swallow up funding for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) which are funded by the levy as well as large firms.

In June 2023, then shadow skills minister Toby Perkins committed to additional spending for a ringfenced budget for apprenticeships in SMEs.

Asked today if that commitment from the shadow Treasury team was still in place, Malhotra wouldn’t give a direct answer but pointed out there are billions of pounds of funding generated by the apprenticeship levy that has either not been allocated for spending on apprenticeships or clawed back by Treasury.

She also made clear in her speech that for SMEs who do not currently pay the apprenticeship levy, under Labour they will continue to receive 95 per cent co-payments.