Hard hats or graduation caps: can schools solve the NEETs problem?

Britain’s NEET problem has become impossible to ignore. In the first quarter of 2026, more than one million 16- to 24-year olds were not in education, employment or training, the highest level in over a decade. A report by former Labour cabinet minister Alan Milburn warns the cost to the economy could be £125 billion a year, while raising fears of a ‘lost generation’. More troubling still, the proportion of NEET young people reporting a ‘work-limiting health condition’ has risen sharply, with mental health increasingly cited as a barrier to employment.

So what is going wrong – and can education fix it? Prime Minister Andy Burnham has put an increased focus on vocational education at the heart of his response, arguing that we should ‘value the hard hat every bit as much as the graduation cap’. From 2028, pupils aged 14 and over will be able to combine core academic subjects with technical courses linked to the needs of local employers and labour markets, building on the Greater Manchester baccalaureate he championed as mayor.

But is a vocational-education revolution really the answer?

The problem may lie outside the classroom. Employers complain that rising employment costs and recruitment regulations have made it harder to offer the apprenticeships and Saturday jobs that once gave young people a foothold in the workplace. Meanwhile, AI may be eliminating the junior roles that young people need to gain experience. Are we really preparing young people for the jobs market – or training them for jobs that are disappearing?

And what of the young people themselves? Six in 10 people classified as NEET are outside the labour market altogether, with ill health and disengagement among the factors identified by Milburn. Employers, meanwhile, complain that many young people lack resilience and are unwilling to work hard. Has an increased emphasis on wellbeing left young people unprepared for the demands of working life?