Young People Not in Education, Employment or Training

This topic area covers statistics and information relating to young people who are Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEETs) in Hull including local strategic need and service provision. Other information relating to schools, qualifications and education and relating to employment and the labour market are both given under Health and Wellbeing Influences as well as other influencing factors such as deprivation. Other information relating to children and young people are given under the main heading for Children and Young People.

This page contains information from the Office for Health Improvement & Disparities’ Fingertips. Information is taken ‘live’ from the site so uses the latest available data from Fingertips and displays it on this page. As a result, some comments on this page may relate to an earlier period of time until this page is next updated (see review dates at the end of this page).

Headlines

• The phrase not in education, employment or training is generally abbreviated to NEET.
• Poor educational attainment, school absence and exclusions, being an unpaid carer for more than 20 hours per week, and teenage pregnancy are all risk factors for becoming a NEET as well as household and local geographical factors.
• If a young person is not in education, employment or training, their future life chances, physical health and emotional wellbeing are all impacted detrimentally with long-lasting impact over their next 10-20 years (and likely to be throughout their entire lifetime).
• In 2022/23, 425 young people in Hull aged 16-17 years were not in education, employment or training which represents 6.7%. The percentage in Hull has been similar to England between 2016/17 and 2020/21, but has increased in Hull in the last two years and is now statistically significantly higher than England where 5.2% of young people aged 16-17 years are not in education, employment or training.

The Population Affected – Why Is It Important?

A Scottish study published in 2015 involved long-term follow-up of young people aged 16-19 years who were not in education, employment or training in 1991. They found that poor educational attainment, absence from school, number of exclusions from school, being an unpaid carer for more than 20 hours per week, and teenage pregnancy were all risk factors for becoming a NEET. They also found that other household factors were important such as living in social rented household, living in a family that was not headed by a married couple, living in a household with no employed adults and having a large number of siblings. They also found that there was a geographical influence, i.e. the prevalence of NEETs in the local areas. This is not surprising as areas with higher deprivation, higher percentages of unskilled workforce, and poorer employment opportunities will tend to have higher rates of NEETs.

The Scottish study reported that young people who were not in education, employment or training in 1991 remained disadvantaged in their level of educational attainment 10 and 20 years later.

They found that young people who were NEET in 1991 or 2001 were the most disadvantaged and needed continuing support. There was a cumulative effect of being out of employment or education on later life chances.

Young people who were NEET in 1991 but were in employment or education in 2001 had lower risks of poor life outcomes compared to those who were consistently NEET (in both 1991 and 2001). However, the negative effect of NEET status in 1991 was not fully discounted in later engagement in employment or education, as they were still at a disadvantage in terms of life chances in relation to those who had been in employment or education in both 1991 and 2001. This indicted the long-lasting detrimental effect of NEET experiences.

Those who were NEET in 2001 were 2.8 times more likely to be unemployed or economically inactive 10 years later compared to other young people that were in education, employment or training in 2001 It was also reported that physical health and emotional wellbeing were significantly worse for the NEET group.

The teenage years are generally the time when young people experiment with unhealthy lifestyle behaviours such as smoking, alcohol consumption and using drugs, and this behaviour is more likely to be tried or sustained among vulnerable young people and those finding the transition into adulthood difficult which included young people who are not in education, employment or training.

The Hull Picture

In 2022/23, 6.7% of Hull’s young people aged 16-17 years in Hull were not in education, employment or training which was similar to the region but lower than England.

There are 425 young people aged 16-17 years in Hull who are not in education, employment or training for 2022/23 (out of the 6,343 young people in this age range whose activity is known).

The percentage of NEETs in Hull has remained relatively comparable to England between 2016/17 and 2020/21, but has increased in Hull the last two years and is not statistically significantly higher than England.

Strategic Need and Service Provision

As a good education is very important for future health and wellbeing improving career prospects, raising aspirations, and giving people more financial control over their lives, it is essential that children are ready for school, and children and young people are able to maximise their achievements whilst at school, college and university, so that they can have good employment prospects.

Given the risk factors that impact on whether a young person will become NEET, it is important to provide help focusing on those children and young people most at risk, such as those with poor educational attainment, school absences and exclusions as well as those with caring roles. Young people in more vulnerable groups are also more at risk such as children with special education needs (either with an Education and Health Care plan or in receipt of Special Educational Needs support), children looked after, children with mental health issues, those living in difficult family circumstances, etc.

Children potentially requiring additional support should be assessed as quickly as possible as early help gives rise to better outcomes. Evidence clearly shows that early intervention has the strongest impact during the first few years of life. It is also true that effective interventions can improve children’s life chances at any point during childhood and into adolescence. Therefore, it is essential that children and families requiring help can access the right help quickly. It is also imperative that service providers (as part of their routine visits and child assessments) seek out children and families who require help, as not all those who require help will ask for help. The Early Help and Prevention Strategy offer is focused on a whole family approach which aims to identify individuals and families with problems and brings together different services and agencies to collectively look at what support is needed and then work together to deliver the required support in a coordinated way. The strategy outlines the approach to ensure that collaboration and alignment of services, and that early help may be ‘early in life or at the earliest opportunity’ which is also part of the day job, helpful, non-stigmatising, preventative, targeted and tailored. programme is a collaborative, integrated services that provides both a universal offer open to all and a targeted approach for children, young people and families who require more support. Further information on the Early Help programme in Hull is provided under Early Years and Good Child Development within Pregnancy, Births and Early Years within Children and Young People.

In addition to the above measures that are designed to reduce the likelihood of children who are at risk of NEET actually becoming NEET, it is also important to ensure sufficiency of suitable training provision for young people aged 16-18 (and aged up to 25 for those with an Education, Health and Care Plan) and access to support and impartial information, advice and guidance for those who do become NEET.

The Young People Skills and Employability (YPSE) service aims to secure sufficient and suitable education and training for young people in the city. To achieve this, the YPSE service is required to shape and influence the local provision offer and help to develop/improve the education and training market. This sees the YPSE service facilitating regular meetings with all post-16 education and training providers across Hull (and surrounding areas) who receive funding from the Education and Skills Funding Agency ESFA (directly and indirectly). Where a lack of provision is identified, the Local Authority must instigate a commissioning process in partnership with the ESFA to fill the identified gap.

The service also has dedicated advisors who offer support to any young people who are NEET. Specific services include: help writing application forms; advice on completing CVs; support with preparing for interviews; guidance on employment rights and responsibilities; access to information about all education and training opportunities across the area; careers advice; signposting to other support services; intensive transition support.

Further information on the YPSE Service can be found in the Participation Strategic Plan: 2021 – 2022.

Resources

The Office for Health Improvement & Disparities’ Fingertips: https://fingertips.phe.org.uk/

The Scottish Longitudinal NEET Study. Consequences, risk factors, and geography of young people not in education, employment or training (NEET) – Research findings. Scottish Government, 2015.

Early Help. Service Guide and Performance Review 2019/20. Hull City Council, 2020.

Hull’s Early Help and Prevention Strategy 2021-25. https://www.hull.gov.uk/downloads/file/1726/Hull_Early_Help_and_Prevention_Strategy_2021_25.pdf

Participation Strategic Plan: 2021-2022. https://www.hull.gov.uk/education-and-schools/support-education/post-16-statutory-duties

Updates

This page was last updated / checked on 29 April 2024.

This page is due to be updated / checked in November 2024.