Overview
- Resolution Foundation research puts 16–24-year-olds not in education, employment or training at about 940,000 after a two‑year rise of 195,000, with the total projected to pass one million for the first time since 2012.
- Ill health and disability now account for more than a quarter of NEETs, with the share inactive for these reasons more than doubling since 2005.
- Labour’s phased equalisation of youth minimum wage rates lifted pay for 18–20-year-olds to £10 an hour in April while the 21+ rate is £12.21, and the think tank urges a pause to avoid pricing young people out of entry‑level jobs.
- The government’s Youth Guarantee is under way with trailblazer programmes and a planned targeted backstop that would offer guaranteed paid work to eligible Universal Credit claimants after 18 months without earning or learning.
- About 44% of NEET young people do not engage with the benefits system, prompting calls for a national ‘front door’ and wider access to the guarantee, while ministers consult on limiting the health‑related Universal Credit element for under‑22s and disability charity Scope warns of harms to young disabled people.