Really interesting report on NEETs. What do you think happens next?

[SomedayIllBeSaturdayNight]

https://www.theguardian.com/society/2026/may/23/uk-young-people-workplace-anxiety-alan-milburn

Such an interesting report by Alan Millburn in why the UK has so many young NEETs.

' “[Young people] are different, not worse, not lazier, not less intelligent. They have grown up in a digital world that has rewired how they communicate, form relationships and manage stress. They have fewer experiences of workplaces and they present with higher levels of anxiety and depression.”

Does this ring true to you? And what are the next few years going to look like?

I personally can't see any reason for the government not to ban social media for under 16s in this context.

I agree - really good point.

France has more NEETs than we do. Just saying.

Sadly it is going up here with Labour but other EU countries have higher rates

Spain: ~25.2%
Sweden: ~24.6%
Italy: ~20.9%
France: ~19%

Are you sure?

’Sweden boasts one of the lowest NEET (Not in Education, Employment, or Training) rates in Europe, hovering at around 6% for young adults. This is significantly below the broader EU-27 average of roughly 11%’

Also, I bet that you didn’t know that fact about France when you so sneerly “well, well , well” ed over its levels of benefits. It turns out it’s not so aspirational after all and that benefit cuts don’t work to tackle this particular issue. Funny that.

Actually you may be right. I looked up youth unemployment which could be different to NEET. Idk too hot to think about the difference.

Generally unemployment figures look pretty good here v out of work.

I agree with you. However I have two children and one is extremely resistant to being told what to do both at home and at school and will not align herself naturally with any situation (eg has to be told three times we’re going for a walk at x time then still won’t be ready and needs chasing down), and one generally does as she is told and fits into any given family or school situation. Reading about PDA gave me some good strategies to cope with the eldest. It is really true that if you haven’t had such a child it is hard to imagine what it is like. Child has good diet and sleeping routines though since we’ve always been strict about this.

Lowest NEETS

Netherlands: ~4.9%
Germany: ~8.5%
Nordic Countries (e.g., Iceland, Norway, Sweden): Ranges between 5.0% and

Highest NEETs
Turkey (EU candidate): ~25.9%
Romania: ~19.4%
Italy: ~15.2%
Spain: ~12.0%

Italy and Spain were quite unexpected for me , so I need to do a bit more reading on that.

Germany is similarly lacking in confidence currently, from what I glean from German friends (I lived there for many years.) However it is true to say they have both a strong work ethic and a different system - three types of high school so that children get an education more tailored to their abilities. If you fail a school year you have to repeat it. Those more suited to tradespeople jobs get schooling suited to that from age 12/13.
Also the reason for fewer NEETS is most likely that university education lasts far longer (typically till age 25, I knew people who were still studying at 30.) So that cuts a huge swathe of people out of the stats as they are classed as students for way longer.

To get those jobs however you need to be fluent in the local language. Lack of language education in schools sadly hinders us here as well.

I expect plenty of the young were tipped into poor MH by the lack of job opportunities. My ds even wrote emails offering to work for free last summer. He did eventually get a paid role, but none of the places he wrote to for free even wanted him. He has A stars at A level and was finishing Y1 of a good degree.

Many are also tipped into poor MH by exam stress. GCSEs and ALevels are brutal during exam season. And in their revision breaks, they see people like. 16yo Venezuela Fury on a 30k paid honeymoon and influencers. They must wonder why tf they are taking GCSEs. I remember a decade ago that kids in a fucking primary school were crying about SATs. Miserable all round.

@Octavia64 @Hoppss
Most schools are not that restrictive. There are the 100 out of 4000 secondary schools that do have the Michaela style strict rules but this is the minority.
Let me ask you a question about the toilet rules that many schools have-if on average 5 children per lesson leave to go to the toilet because they are a bit bored with the lesson, do you think it is acceptable to have 250 children in the toilet unsupervised? This figure is based on 1500 children in a school, 30 children in a class with 5 children leaving each lesson. This is a safeguarding issue. Obviously, if a kid is clearly desperate to go to the toilet, the teacher will let them go. This was a very rare occasion when I was in secondary school.
I actually agree that the uniform in the UK is restrictive and should be more comfortable. However, many parents say they like the suit style uniform.
I think that the league tables are causing schools to be very exam focused. When I was young, students who did not do any work were allowed to fail. Teachers are not allowed to let students fail any more due to pressure on them and this is creating a high pressure environment in schools. Many teachers are leaving.
Research shows that bad behaviour in schools in increasing. There has been an increase in violent attacks and abuse on teachers yet parents are often unsupportive. Why should anyone in their job have to put up with a violent attack on them?
Parents think that their children are the most important. However, a school is a community and one person's needs are not more important than other people's needs.

“Why should anyone in their job have to put up with a violent attack on them?
Parents think that their children are the most important. However, a school is a community and one person's needs are not more important than other people's needs.”

No one should be putting up with violence.
Sadly schools have created an environment where bullying, violence, and sexual assault are routinely ignored and covered up, whilst simultaneously taking away many of the options to remove the perpetrators. Many PRUs have gone, most of those that remain are now academies with the same pointless authoritarian rules that saw many pupils there in the first place.

School is a community, and everyone’s needs are important in a balance. Children with SN are ignored until they become a problem, and things then escalate to being a very big problem. If schools were actually a community, and not just catering to the convenient members they might just be a better place for all involved. As it is schools are often in Wild West territory now.

It’s going up because of Brexit, employment laws and less people going to uni.

Nothing is going to be done though.

The UK is skint, look what happened at the SEND report. Throw a tiny, a very tiny per pupil/school, bit of cash so schools can build a cushion room and erm hope for the best.

What exactly does anyone think they will do for young adults who are no longer legally obliged to fund anything for them?

When you have male pupils telling female teachers they should fuck off back to the kitchen and look after a man, it’s beyond special needs, that’s learned sexist bile.

@Hoppss
I don't understand what you mean by SN children are ignored. In a class of 30 children, the teacher will try to meet an SN child's needs but if half the class are SN-which is sometimes the case now-it is impossible for the teacher to meet everyone's needs all of the time. We should get rid of EHCPs and have a needs-led rather than diagnosis-led model. Schools should decide on the needs not some private assessor who is incentivised to give a diagnosis for borderline cases to get money.
Special needs is not underfunded in the UK-we spend more than other Western European countries. Local Authorities spend around £15bn annually on SEND provision, which is three times the amount compared to 10 years ago. Many local authorities are almost going bankrupt due to their legal obligation to pay for those on EHCPs. Is it right that people paying council tax are paying a disproportionate amount towards SEN provision compared to funding local services such as bin collections, potholes etc?
There needs to be fairness for all and a balance between community needs versus individual needs.
The NEET figures are related to the very high levels of diagnosis of SN and mental health. If we stop labelling children and offer needs-led support, then we might have less of a problem in the future.

Sen support (including ehcps) are supposed to be needs led not diagnosis led already.

Honestly the ignorance as regards this subject!
Right out of an ignorance lead Reform manifesto.

SEND is already needs lead. As are EHCPs! And schools already do decide on need. If there is no need you’re not getting support. Just so you’re aware diagnoses aren’t labels.

And as for comparing to other countries you can’t. They vary so much.

The system is being overhauled with a shift toward early, localized support in mainstream schools. There is a widespread consensus among education unions, school leaders, and independent think tanks that UK schools are facing severe funding pressures. While overall cash funding has increased, the real-terms spending per pupil remains heavily squeezed, leading to widespread budgetary deficits. So as most parents of children without SEND won’t want their kids impacted money is going to need to be spent on this.

Try reading the article in the OP properly. A quarter are classed as unable to work due to a long-term sickness or disability. Of these, 43% say that mental health problems are the primary reason they are unable to work, up from 24% in 2011. So that’s 43% of a quarter of NEET being related to MH, no mention of SEND so maybe step away from the targeting of children with SEND. Also 1 in 5 children in England have SEND. Maybe look at your maths too- that’s 20% not 50%(half).

Yes I agree, but teachers hands are tied. The most important thing seems to be to keep them in school and ignore it, because their options are so limited.

PRUs used to be the perfect place to deal with these and attempt to set them in a better track with amazing teaching staff, now too many of them are like scaled down academies with fewer special teaching skills.

When I was at school this behaviour was an instant “get out, now” which was followed through immediately, now not so much. The punishments used to be feared, now these teens know they are untouchable. Even if they are suspended they can be at home and create havoc knowing that even the police will ignore them. A local woman was put in intensive care being run over by one of these boys joy riding - everyone knew exactly who it was, the police made so many excuses to do nothing. That’s quite typical now.

So many are fully disengaged from education and work. Most IME through SN and long term lack of appropriate environment and support, others (including some SN) by the systematic dismantling of the boundaries that protected teachers and other pupils - in no way should a pupil for any reason be able to assault a teacher or a classmate and remain in the same classroom with minimal punishment, yet here we are.
This is a problem created by so many shit government decisions.

“Also 1 in 5 children in England have SEND. Maybe look at your maths too- that’s 20% not 50%(half).”

A few schools in my area are up to 45% SN pupils. This is balanced slightly by a local grammar school have a lower rate (I believe 15-20%), but in general rates currently seem to be higher than 20%.

There was a thread on here a while back asking teachers what % of their class was SEN. Consensus was 20-60%.

EHCPs are a joke and bankrupting local councils. Impossible to meet and an extremely poor evidence base behind whether the mitigations actually improve the outcome for the child in question.

They’re not impossible to meet and are met because they’re legal documents They’re reviewed every year with schools, pupils and parents at the heart of them. They are hugely beneficial and necessary for the kids that have them.

Studies indicate that pupils with EHCPs in mainstream schools perform better academically than comparable peers in special schools, even when accounting for prior attainment.

Well-crafted EHCPs that set person-centered, SMART (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-bound) targets are instrumental in equipping young people with the confidence and life skills required for independent living.

Pupils with EHCPs generally fare better and receive more targeted support than those with standard SEN support alone.