16-18 year olds NEET
Being out of education, employment or training (NEET) between the ages of 16 and 18 is an enormous waste of young people’s potential and their contribution to society. It is also linked to a number of other poor outcomes, including low levels of attainment and teenage conception.
Reducing the proportion of young people NEET is therefore one of the Department’s key national priorities - our target is to reduce the proportion of 16-18 year olds who are NEET by 2 percentage points by 2010. Local authorities have the lead responsibility for reducing the proportion of young people NEET in their areas and we welcome the fact that so many local areas have chosen the NEET Indicator for their Local Area Agreement (LAA) with Government.
The latest figures for the end of 2008 show that the proportion of young people aged 16-18 participating in education or training reached 79.7%, an increase of 1.7 percentage points since 2007 and the highest ever rate.
The proportion of 16 and 17 year olds NEET has fallen for the third consecutive year. At 5.2%, the proportion of 16 year olds NEET is at its lowest level for more than a decade. The proportion of 18 year olds NEET rose by 2.4 percentage points to 16.6%. This caused the overall proportion of 16-18 year olds NEET to rise by 0.7 percentage points to 10.3%. More detailed statistics are available in the NEET Data section.
In December 2009, the DCSF, DWP and BIS published Investing in Potential, our Strategy to increase the proportion of 16-24 year olds in education, employment or training. The Strategy sets out how Government, local authorities and other partners can work together effectively to support young people during their crucial formative years, reducing the proportion of young people who are NEET and helping to prepare for the raising of the participation age. You can read more about the NEET Strategy and download a copy from the NEET Strategy section.
In May 2008, we published the NEET Toolkit. Based around the same key themes as the Strategy, this sets out the role of each delivery partner, good practice tips and case studies to support delivery. To complement this, we have produced more detailed guidance on the use of flexible provision to allow young people to start programmes during the course of the academic year - this can be found at the bottom of this page. We are also gradually building up a library of best practice and you can find this in the NEET Guidance section.
If you have any feedback or would like to submit an example of best practice or suggest additional content, then please feel free to contact us.
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NEET Toolkit
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NEET flexible provision
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Investing in Potential: Our Strategy to increase the proportion of 16-24 year olds in education, employment or training
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Top of page | Date last modified: 15-Dec-09
