Britain’s failure to get young people off the streets and into work leaves them vulnerable to becoming involved in crime, to ill health and a life ‘at the margins of society as the people that prosperity forgot,’ the CBI has warned.

In the South East, 5.6 per cent of the region’s 16-18 year olds are not in education, employment or training - so called ‘NEETs’. Although this is the lowest percentage in the country, the CBI says it is unacceptable that Britain ranks 23rd out of 28 in the OECD’s (Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development) league table of ‘NEETs’ - often despite far lower unemployment rates overall.

Although the number of young people NEET has fallen by one percentage point across Britain over the last year, the CBI says the picture could worsen dramatically in the months ahead as the economy falters, with the OECD stating that: “the position of youth deteriorates much more than that of adults when adverse economic conditions unfold.”

In a new report, the CBI says at least £5m a week - or £250m a year - could be saved if the number of young people claiming benefits was halved, a goal that is achievable if the government improves the way public services are offered to them. It says that although some improvements are being made, progress is patchy.

Malcolm Hyde, CBI South East Regional Director, said: “The CBI has long warned that the UK’s approach to disengaged youth is failing. Now we can see the knock-on effects that such failure has on the whole of society. This is not just an issue of so many school leavers failing to achieve the expected minimum of five good GCSEs after 11 years of full-time education. This is about the UK churning out thousands of people without the basic skills and attitudes they need to make their way in the world.

“Sadly, these are the young people who end up unemployed and feeling like failures. The true cost extends well beyond benefit payments and prison places. Anti-social behaviour leads to people staying away from town centres, meaning businesses lose trade and local communities suffer.

“Tackling the NEETs problem need not involve spending more money, but rather spending it more wisely and efficiently.”



The CBI report, Towards a NEET solution: tackling underachievement in young people, notes that while one in 10 young people in the UK are NEET, in France this is one in 16 and in Germany only one in 23.



Government figures show that 20 per cent of men and eight per cent of women who had been NEET aged 16-18 became involved in crime between the ages of 17-30, three times the rate among all young people.



Female NEETs are also 22 times more likely to be teenage mothers than the average, while 25 per cent of young women NEETs are in poor health by the age of 21 compared to 15 per cent on average.

Malcolm Hyde added: “The answer to the NEET problem is to rescue these young people before they end up at the margins of society as the people that prosperity forgot. We must make better use of innovative and personalised services that address the complex problems these young people face.”


The CBI report makes a number of recommendations to help reduce the number of young people NEET, including:
• Encouraging one-to-one relationships between advisers and NEETs, with young people given more say in the services they use. Both could be achieved through the ‘budget-holding lead professional’ model, where advisers can buy goods and services for individual young people in consultation with them. Pilots of this in 16 local authorities have proven highly successful
• There being a one-stop shop approach to supporting young people, providing access to services such as careers guidance, health information, legal help, housing support and IT assistance in one package rather than from multiple sources
• Making the National Apprenticeship Service more attractive to employers by cutting red tape and improving the relevance of qualifications. This could include more support for SMEs and better support to link businesses with young people
• Ensuring regular inspections of Information, Advice and Guidance and services such as Connexions, with poor performance leading to contract review. Currently, inspections are limited despite widespread evidence of their positive impact
• The government reviewing competitive neutrality, including VAT regimes, across youth services to make sure all providers, regardless of sector, compete on an equal basis
• Local authorities becoming better strategic commissioners of youth services, using outcomes-based contracts that will encourage innovation and efficiency in getting people into work, training or education
• Using a ‘prime contracting’ model, with a single body or consortium responsible for co-ordinating services, making it easier to meet the complex needs of disadvantaged young people and ensure an end-to-end approach
• Programmes such as the Flexible New Deal, due in October 2009, offering specialist support from private and voluntary sector providers to young people as well as from Jobcentre Plus.