Written evidence submitted by the Social Mobility Commission (YEET0152)

The Social Mobility Commission (SMC) is an independent, statutory, advisory body to the Government, founded by the Child Poverty/Life Chances Act 2010. We study the drivers of social mobility in the UK and provide advice on what national, regional and local leaders and policymakers should be doing to improve social mobility. As part of our statutory responsibility, we monitor progress on social mobility across the UK, producing our annual report ‘State of the Nation’, which the Government lays in Parliament.

Our research shows that national trends tend to mask compounding barriers faced geographically by the most disadvantaged. When a social mobility framework is applied to the evidence, it moves beyond simply diagnosing 'NEET status' to better identifying ‘opportunity traps’. For example, where the interaction of family background, local labour markets, and barriers to education and skills prevent young people from achieving their potential, regardless of their starting point.

The SMC has unique, evidence-based insights on the challenges facing young people through our comprehensive Social Mobility Index[1], including where socio-economic background most severely limits a young person’s prospects. Our research shows that national trends tend to mask compounding barriers faced geographically by the most disadvantaged. By identifying the root drivers of economic inactivity and the persistent impact of regional disadvantage, we provide the evidence base necessary to design targeted, place-based interventions.

The SMC is deeply concerned that this group is often neglected in standard social mobility narratives, which tend to focus on a "lucky few" model of a small number of individuals reaching elite professions through higher-education routes, rather than addressing the "stickiness" at the bottom of the income scale.

We are launching new qualitative research focused on the lived experiences of NEET young people, to gain a deeper understanding of how combined factors such as poor health and local labour market shortcomings affect these individuals. This research will initially focus on Blackpool, a local authority area with one of the highest NEET risks in England, and we plan to extend this research to other regions in future.

The SMC Chair, Alun Francis OBE, would like to invite the Chair and members of the Select Committee to visit Blackpool, to gain insights from the collaborative activity underway between DWP, Blackpool Council and Blackpool & Fylde College, and others, to improve outcomes for young people NEET. In his capacity as both Chair of the SMC and Principal and Chief Executive of Blackpool and the Fylde College, Mr. Francis is uniquely positioned to offer a comprehensive perspective on the influence of place-based factors affecting young people’s education, employment prospects, and overall opportunities in life.

1. The Broad Picture

Data from our latest annual statutory report, State of the Nation 2025, indicates that in the 3-year period to 2024, the percentage of young people aged 16 to 24 who were ‘NEET’ went up from 13% to 14%.[2] [3] This marks a return to pre-COVID-19 levels and signals a stalling of progress in reintegrating the most vulnerable cohorts into the labour market.

Data on the economic activity status of NEETs shows that since 2021, NEET levels have risen sharply by 200,000, reaching a total of 946,000: a growth rate of 21.1%[4]. This increase was overwhelmingly driven by the economically inactive portion of the group. The economically inactive now account for 580,000 (61.3%) of all NEET 16-24 year olds, having grown by 154,000 since 2021. This single category is responsible for 77.2% of the overall growth in the 16-24 year old NEET population during this period. The unemployed make up the remaining 366,000 (38.7%).

2. Breakdowns by socio-economic background, protected characteristics and geography

NEETs are not a homogenous group, with a wide range of characteristics and circumstances. The simultaneous rise of low qualifications, SEN requirements, mental health struggles - alongside geographic disparity and lack of access to economic opportunity - has contributed to creating a "perfect storm" of barriers contributing to the current peak of young people NEET.

Our analysis highlights that NEET status is not distributed evenly, revealing deep-seated structural barriers:

Socio-economic gaps: The rate of young people (16-24 years) from lower working-class backgrounds who are NEET is 22% over the most recent three-year period (2022 to 2024).[5] This is significantly higher than for any other socio-economic group, including the higher working class, and nearly two and a half times the 9% rate observed for those from higher professional backgrounds. As this significant gap has remained virtually unchanged for the past decade, it suggests that current standard interventions are not effectively reaching this group.

Educational attainment: Lacking a qualification above Level 1 remains a primary risk factor for becoming NEET (GCSEs at grades 1/2/3 or D/E/F/G).[6] This barrier is growing, as the proportion of disadvantaged pupils failing to achieve any GCSE passes rose from 5.1% in 2020/21 to 7.5% in 2023/24.[7] [8]

Sex: The proportion of young men and women who are NEET was comparable across socio-economic backgrounds (SEBs).[9] Although the overall gap between women and men in economic activity has been reduced by half over the past ten years, women from lower SEBs still encounter considerable obstacles. These are shown in much lower economic activity rates than for women from higher SEBs or their male peers. [10] [11]

Recent estimates indicate that there are 512,000 men aged between 16-24 years who are NEET and 434,000 women in this age group who are NEET.[12] From 2021 to 2025, there were an additional 99,000 men who were NEET, and 101,000 women who were NEET; the number of women who are NEET has grown by 30.2%, while it has increased by 23.9% for men.

Inactivity due to looking after family/home was much higher for women (21%) than men (3%).[13] [14]

Health & Disability: Young people classified as having a disability and from lower working class backgrounds are twice as likely to be NEET than disabled young people from higher professional backgrounds. [15] 45% of NEETs from lower working class backgrounds are classified as having a disability, compared with 22% of NEETS from higher professional backgrounds.

Among children eligible for Free School Meals (FSM), those requiring Special Educational Needs (SEN) provision, another significant NEET risk factor, rose from 38% to 42.2% over the same period.[16] [17] [18] 

In 2024, 25% of 16-24 year olds who were NEET, were inactive due to long-term or temporary sickness. This was more prevalent in men than in women (27% compared with 23%).[19]

Having a mental health condition is a significant risk factor for becoming NEET.[20] The prevalence of mental health conditions among 16-24 year olds has climbed from 18.9% in 2014 to 25.8% in 2024.[21]

Ethnicity: Across every analysed ethnic group, those from lower working-class backgrounds face a higher risk of becoming NEET than those from higher professional backgrounds.[22] This disparity is stark: one in four (25.2%) young Black Caribbeans from working-class backgrounds are NEET, compared to just one in ten (10%) from higher professional backgrounds. Similarly, 22.8% of young White British people from working-class backgrounds are NEET, while only 8.1% of their peers from professional backgrounds share this status.

Regional disparities: The risk of becoming NEET is rooted in the socio-economic conditions experienced during childhood.[23] Our Conditions of Childhood Index, which aggregates parental income, education, and occupation, serves as a significant driver for understanding these future mobility prospects.[24] Our Index reveals that disadvantage is acutely concentrated in former industrial and mining areas such as those across the North East, West Midlands, and South Wales, where "entrenched disadvantage" has persisted for over 20 years.[25]

The contemporary labour market directly reflects these historical childhood barriers: areas with the lowest scores on the Conditions of Childhood Index consistently manifest the highest current NEET rates for 16-17 year olds.[26] For example, Derby currently reports the highest rate of NEETs in this age group at 7.6%, while Stockton-on-Tees, identified as an area of entrenched disadvantage, has the third highest at 7.2%. [27] [28]

Rural challenges: Young people in rural areas, such as Cornwall and the Scottish Borders, face diminishing opportunities as long travel distances and high commuting costs make further education and entry-level employment economically unviable.[29] This geographic isolation risks a growing "opportunity gap" as the economy shifts toward professional services concentrated in urban hubs.

Without targeted intervention, rural youth will continue to fall behind peers with easier access to high-skill training and employment.

3. Policy insights from across the UK

The SMC has published two recent reports: ‘Regional Insights: Creating fairer chances across the regions’, and ‘Innovation, investment and inclusion: a framework for regional renewal’. [30] [31] The former contains insights from roundtable discussions held in collaboration with Local and Combined Authorities, local stakeholders. Many of these stakeholders are working to support young people NEET. The latter results from findings from our Economic Growth and Investment Group, comprised of leading entrepreneurs, business experts, public sector officials and academics from different sectors and parts of the country.

These reports conclude that, in order to create the opportunities that people need to progress, the UK needs a stronger, growing, more innovative economy that creates wealth and opportunity for more people, regardless of their background or where they live. Steps taken to improve education and skills for young people will only prove effective if opportunities for skilled, well-paid, fulfilling careers are available in the local or regional labour market. Devolution of further powers to Devolved Authorities and Local Government, and stronger partnership working across sectors, including with business and higher education, are key to achieving this.

Specific recommendations outlined in our recent reports, include:

●       Prevention for ‘At-risk’ youth: Early intervention, based on known risk factors, can prevent disengagement, but identification and prevention must take into consideration the regional profile of underlying risk factors for young people. 
 

●       Improving career choices: Greater use of mentoring, job coaching and work experience should be used to ease pathways to work for young people and facilitate informed career choices to counter growing rates of uncertainty[32] and sharply falling rates of apprenticeship uptake[33].

●       Employer involvement: Employers should have the opportunity to co-design local and regional skills provision strategies, young people should have guaranteed work experience before the age of 18, and awareness among employers on vocational career routes and qualifications must be improved[34].

○       Learning from examples of best practice, such as DWP-supported SWAPs (Sector-Based Work Academy Programmes) should be shared more widely.
 

●       Growth & Skills Levy: Should be further devolved to Local Government, to ensure that it can be utilised in accordance with local and regional Growth & Skills Strategies.

○       If the Levy is not devolved to Local Government, there is significant risk that the policy will encounter the same barriers as experienced by the Apprenticeship Levy which it replaces. Employers cite bureaucratic inflexibility and administrative complexity as the main barrier leading to £billions being returned to the Treasury (£3.3bn 2019-2022[35]), and absence of apprenticeships which could otherwise have been created under the previous system.
 

●       Data Sharing: Government (central and local) should improve data sharing, to better understand the factors affecting, outcomes of, and locations of young people NEET across the UK.

○       There are specific data sets held for example by DWP, DfE and Treasury but often this is not shared, for example with local Government and delivery partners, in ways that would help to better inform and target effective interventions.

○       In a similar fashion, responsibility should be taken for tracking the trajectory and outcomes of young people NEET at a local level - as often this data can become fragmented between various agencies and statutory services, at different ages in the young person’s life. The absence of this results in many young people NEET becoming ‘lost’ to the system; and undermines effective monitoring, evaluation and targeting of policies and interventions.

●       Strategic Growth Plans & Skills Strategies: Every region should have a long-term Strategic Growth Plan, which includes a Skills Strategy - each with central Government backing, and taking account of specific kinds of provision to reach those furthest from the labour market, such as young people NEET.

○       These plans should be developed in a collaborative co-design approach among key stakeholders, including employers and colleges, with an emphasis on technical education and vocational pathways.
 

●       Access to regulated occupations: Government and regulators must make these professions more accessible to those of lower socio-economic backgrounds [36].

○       Almost a quarter of the working-age population (22%, 8.1 million people) is active in these professions - but with continuing, and in some cases growing, barriers to uptake for those of lower socio-economic backgrounds.
 

●       Entrepreneurship: Entrepreneurialism should be promoted and encouraged among young people, including through education in schools, with specific attention to the barriers faced by those of lower socio-economic backgrounds.

○       The New Enterprise Allowance (administered by DWP) should be reinstated to ensure adequate provision of financial support to those in receipt of welfare and employment-related benefits (such as Universal Credit).
 

●       Travel: Some local areas have started providing free or discounted public transport for young people. We believe this should be encouraged and extended across all devolved authorities. This will ensure that the cost of a bus, train or tram ticket isn’t the reason a young person misses an opportunity for education, employment or training.

○       Transport connections must also be improved, with over half of the country’s working-age population (57%, as of 2019) living in areas with low public transport access to jobs, i.e. within reach of 45 minutes travel time.[37]
 

●       Community inclusion: There must be a greater promotion, particularly among those who may feel a sense of disconnect from their local community such as young people NEET, of a sense of belonging and place; giving local people a reason to believe that success is possible within the communities in which they live.

4. Challenging the Status Quo: Our Concerns and Key Questions

To catalyse improvements for this group, it is essential to ask the difficult questions that unpick the real drivers of disengagement and inactivity. To pave the way for concrete action, we recommend that the committee investigates:

●       The path to diagnosis: How are young people arriving at mental health and disability diagnoses? Is "economic inactivity" becoming a catch-all label for those for whom the education system or local labour market has simply failed to provide a viable path?

●       The reality of daily life: How are young people actually spending their time? How best can interventions be designed which resonate with the reality of young people - by taking account of factors such as unpaid care, hidden disabilities, social anxieties or digital isolation?

●       A diverse population with different challenges and circumstances: The NEET population is not homogenous. How do the barriers for a young man in a post-industrial coastal town like Blackpool differ from those facing an ethnic minority woman in a major city?

●       Structural vs. individual drivers: To what extent is "worklessness" a result of individual aspirations or health, versus a rational response to a local labour market that offers only insecure, low-paid, or seasonal work?

●       Devolved decision-making & delivery: Can the ability to reach young people in local communities be improved by further devolving decision-making and delivery?

●       Perceptions, incentives & definitions of success: What motivates today’s young people to study, learn a skill, gain a qualification or pursue a career - and are these incentives different today when compared to previous generations?

●       Evidence & evaluation: Can data sharing between Government departments, Devolved Authorities and delivery partners ensure interventions are evidence-informed, and less susceptible to policy churn or fragmentation?

5. Qualitative Research: Understanding Lived Experience

Through our qualitative research, we want to understand ‘how’ structural drivers and individual lived experiences compound into poor outcomes and low social mobility prospects. We need to avoid 'one size fits all' solutions, enabling interventions specific to local needs and aspirations.

Our qualitative research will cover:

●       Target population and methodology: Young people aged 16-24 using semi-structured interviews and focus groups. Including diverse sub-groups, including age, race, gender, and disability, to ensure a comprehensive understanding of the varying barriers faced.

●       Place-based focus (Blackpool): Initial fieldwork is focused on Blackpool, which has the joint-highest risk of young people being or becoming NEET of all English local authority areas. This may be extended to other regions in the future.

●       Research aims: Identification of specific family, health, and social factors that young people perceive as influencing their pathways to becoming NEET. Also exploring how their daily lives impact their overall well-being and progress towards education, training and employment, including the support they perceive as helpful.

●       Impact and timeline: Fieldwork is scheduled for completion by June 2026, with a final report due in August 2026. The findings will inform recommendations for central and local government policy, and provide evidence to further inform the design and delivery of NEET interventions such as the "Youth Guarantee Trailblazers".

●       Alignment with DWP young people and work report: We are liaising with DWP on their lived experience research currently underway and are working to align methodologies to provide greater insight from different geographical areas.

6. Next Steps

We welcome any follow up discussion you may wish to have with us on the findings and recommendations submitted. The SMC would also be pleased to discuss how our research on young people NEET could help to inform your work. We would also be happy to discuss a possible visit for the Committee to Blackpool to learn more about the work of the SMC and the local projects supporting young people NEET in Blackpool.
 

February 2026