It's not legal to be a young NEET, but what can or does the government actually do to them?

[commanderprimate]

What does the government actually do to 17-18 year olds who aren't in education, training or work?

I mean, if they're just living off their parents, can they actually stop them from just dossing around all day?

Do you mean its not illegal. You are correct it's not but a functioning society needs able working age people to work to help support those would are not able to. It's a ticking time bomb of a large section of the younger generation does not have a job.

I thought it wasn't permitted- govt guidance says that 16-18 year olds must be in education, employment or training. I think they should, but just don't understand what sanctions there are to make them.

No child benefit. That's it.
Not illegal as such though.

I see. No truancy fines either?

The fourth option is to sign on UC and look for work.

Nothing.

my dc is was neet when she was 17. (She was seriously ill).

it did speed up a couple of nhs referrals though
as they noted she was not in school due to illness.

Under 18s can’t get UC

I was quite shocked by the letter I got from council tax about my 18 year old demanding to know how he supports himself as not in work or claiming benefits ! I told them i support him financially and it’s nothing to do with them ! To just charge me the full amount to which they reply they will but I still have to prove how he’s supported so i refused again!

My son didn’t go into further education when he left school , in fact left school at 15 so they didn’t have a record of what he was doing. I had a couple of calls from ‘someone’ cant remember who , department of something ! They were satisfied he was working with his brother . They then called me again about a year later and we had the same conversation . The angle was ‘ was he ok, what was he doing, and do we need any help or advice with regard to getting him into education or employment / careers advice etc,’ we didn’t he was still working with his brother.

There are zero sanctions, and nothing that they can do either.

The law isn’t aimed at the young people themselves, and there are no sanctions against them. Rather it’s about placing a duty on local authorities to provide support to NEETs.

How do they know? It's got bugger all to do with council tax how people support themselves unless they're claiming benefits for it and even then.

Truancy from where though? Some kids didn’t get the grades (at all) to go further (at least this time around) , some kids will be too ill or disabled to actually work or study, some couldn’t progress further because they still haven’t passed maths GCSE (for example) and have given up and looking for work instead. Some are a bit stuck on next steps and inbetween(volunteering , looking for work, waiting for apprenticeships etc.).Don’t forget that the number of NEETS is counted quarterly.

Exactly ??!

My ds was too ill for school at age 17. When I deregistered him from school I asked them about this and was told that nobody was monitoring this and there’d be no consequences.

He was on a waiting list for an operation for over a year and the school understood that my hands were tied. I wasn’t fined for his low attendance (less than 30%)

He is well and working now. Luckily I live where there is work and good transport so he can get to work when he’s too ill to drive.

Over 16 education is dependent on grades and transport isn’t funded by councils so you can’t say that someone who didn’t get the required grades or too poor to afford travel is truant.

Is it a legal position or a recommendation or goal of government? There aren’t enough jobs or apprenticeships to make it a legal requirement imo.

The Government already provides free education and training for those in the age group you have given. All NEETs of that age are NEETs by choice.

That really is not true.

Define choice.

They stop child benefit that’s all.

There are courses available for all over 16s, many you can do without GCSEs. They do however expect resits in maths and english alongside these courses.

Hopefully the parents will nag them into work or college.