Have Schools and Colleges Contributed to the NEET Crisis? The Milburn Review Exposes Decades of Systemic Failure
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Have Schools and Colleges Contributed to the NEET Crisis?
It is an uncomfortable question.
But Britain needs to be prepared to ask it.
Have our schools and colleges contributed to the growing number of young people who are not in education, employment or training?
At Genuine Futures, we believe the answer is yes – but they are only part of a much bigger systemic failure.
This isn’t about attacking teachers.
It isn’t about blaming lecturers.
And it would be wrong to suggest that schools and colleges alone created Britain’s NEET crisis.
Many dedicated professionals are working incredibly hard inside institutions that are themselves under significant pressure.
But accountability matters.
The Alan Milburn Young People and Work Review has made something increasingly difficult to ignore: this crisis did not suddenly appear.
It is the result of decades of systemic failure involving education, skills, employment, health, welfare and the wider infrastructure that is supposed to help young people transition successfully into adulthood.
At Genuine Futures, we see the consequences behind the statistics.
And two young people demonstrate why this conversation matters.
Luis and Cameron both went to college.
Both dropped out.
But neither dropped out of having ability.
Neither dropped out of having ambition.
And neither dropped out of having a future.
So perhaps we need to stop asking:
“Why did they fail?”
And start asking:
“Why did the pathway fail to keep them connected to opportunity?”
The Milburn Review: Decades of Systemic Failure
The scale of Britain’s NEET crisis cannot be explained by individual choices.
The Milburn Review examines a much wider landscape: education and skills, health, welfare, employment and the institutions responsible for supporting young people’s transition into working life.
That distinction matters enormously.
Because Britain has not lacked initiatives.
We have had strategies.
Funding programmes.
Employment schemes.
Careers programmes.
Training providers.
Apprenticeships.
Youth initiatives.
Government reviews.
Yet generation after generation of young people continues to fall through gaps between institutions.
The Milburn Review challenges us to look beyond individual organisations and examine the architecture surrounding young people.
That means schools must look at their role.
Colleges must look at theirs.
Employers must look at theirs.
Government must look at its policies.
Health services, local authorities, housing providers, careers services and the voluntary and community sector all have responsibilities too.
Because the NEET crisis is not the failure of one institution.
It is what happens when multiple institutions fail to connect around the same young person.
A Young Person Doesn’t Suddenly Become NEET
One of the biggest mistakes we make is treating NEET as something that happens when somebody reaches 16, 18 or 21.
Usually, there is a journey.
Imagine a child beginning to struggle in school.
Attendance starts deteriorating.
Perhaps their behaviour changes.
They struggle academically.
They become frustrated.
Sanctions increase.
Relationships with teachers deteriorate.
They might experience suspension or exclusion.
Confidence falls.
They reach 16 and move into college because that appears to be the expected next step.
But the course isn’t right.
Attendance starts falling again.
Eventually they leave.
Then what?
Maybe they apply for jobs.
No experience.
Rejected.
Another application.
Rejected again.
Perhaps another course.
Another referral.
Another organisation.
Another assessment.
Eventually they disengage.
Then, finally, the system gives them a classification:
NEET – Not in Education, Employment or Training.
But that isn’t necessarily where the problem began.
It is simply where the system finally counted it.
Are Schools Preparing Young People for Exams or Preparing Them for Life?
Academic achievement matters.
Qualifications matter.
English and maths matter.
But surely the purpose of education must be bigger than examination results.
Education should also prepare young people to participate in society, communities and the economy.
That means developing:
- confidence and communication;
- teamwork and leadership;
- problem-solving;
- creativity;
- enterprise;
- practical ability;
- financial understanding;
- resilience;
- workplace behaviours;
- relationships with employers;
- understanding of different industries;
- knowledge of self-employment;
- the ability to recover when something goes wrong.
Most importantly, education should help young people discover:
What am I good at?
Where do I belong?
What could my future look like?
Some young people discover their abilities academically.
Others discover them while laying bricks.
Repairing something.
Designing something.
Making music.
Boxing.
Cooking.
Cleaning a vehicle.
Running an enterprise.
Speaking publicly.
Helping their community.
Working alongside an employer.
Why should young people have to fail academically before they are allowed to discover those strengths?
Luis: From College Dropout to Youth Voice
Luis’s journey is important.
He went to college.
He dropped out.
That could easily have become the defining feature of his story.
It hasn’t.
Through his involvement with Genuine Futures, Luis has taken on increasing responsibility and developed into a Youth Voice Champion.
He has participated in programmes, enterprise activities, community work and conversations about the very systems affecting young people like him.
One of the most powerful things Luis has said during his journey is:
“We can achieve anything now.” – Luis
Five words.
But think about what they represent.
A young person who had become disconnected from a conventional education pathway beginning to see possibility again.
The ability didn’t suddenly appear.
The environment around him changed.
Luis has also spoken through his actions.
He has welcomed people into Genuine Futures.
Taken part in conversations with partners.
Supported enterprise activities.
Shared his experiences.
And increasingly helped adults understand what engagement looks like from a young person’s perspective.
His journey poses an important question.
If a young person can become a Youth Voice Champion after dropping out of college, was lack of potential ever really the problem?
Cameron: “It Starts With One Conversation and One Seat at the Table”
Cameron’s journey provides another perspective.
He also went to college.
He also dropped out.
He subsequently experienced a significant period of disconnection before beginning to rebuild his pathway.
But Cameron wasn’t incapable of contributing.
He needed an opportunity to contribute.
Through Genuine Futures he has become involved in practical community activity, environmental projects, bin store audits and Clean Futures.
He has gone from being somebody systems might describe primarily through what he wasn’t doing to somebody actively contributing to his community.
Cameron summed up something fundamental about this journey:
“It starts with one conversation and one seat at the table.” – Cameron
That should be written into every youth strategy in Britain.
Because sometimes the intervention isn’t another twelve-week course.
It is a conversation.
A relationship.
An invitation.
Somebody remembering your name.
Being asked your opinion.
Being trusted with responsibility.
And having a genuine seat at the table.
Luis and Cameron Didn’t Suddenly Develop Potential
This is perhaps the most important point.
Luis didn’t suddenly become capable when Genuine Futures met him.
Cameron didn’t suddenly become capable either.
The potential was already there.
What changed was the environment surrounding them.
They were given opportunities to participate rather than simply being referred somewhere.
They developed relationships.
They experienced practical activity.
They met employers and community partners.
They were trusted.
They were given responsibilities.
And they became part of something.
That word matters:
belonging.
For some young people, belonging comes before progression.
Before asking somebody where they want to work in five years, sometimes we need to give them a reason to turn up next Thursday.
Sam Smith: “The Potential Was Always There”
Genuine Futures Founder and Co-Director Sam Smith has worked alongside young people for nearly three decades.
He believes the national conversation needs to move away from blaming young people and towards examining the systems surrounding them.
“Luis and Cameron didn’t suddenly become talented when they came through our door. The potential was always there. What changed was that somebody listened, built a relationship and gave them opportunities to show what they could do.” – Sam Smith
For Sam, the Milburn Review validates something he has witnessed repeatedly throughout decades of working alongside young people.
“I’ve been involved with young people for nearly three decades. Governments have changed. Programmes have changed. Funding pots have changed. The terminology changes. But young people continue falling through many of the same gaps.”
That is why describing the current situation simply as a new youth unemployment crisis risks missing the bigger lesson.
“The Milburn Review makes it clear that this is decades of systemic failure. We cannot keep blaming another generation of young people for systems that repeatedly struggle to keep them connected to opportunity.” – Sam Smith
And there is another question Sam believes institutions should be prepared to answer:
“If a young person struggles at school, drops out of college and then cannot get their first job, where was the bridge between those institutions? Who owned the responsibility for making sure that young person didn’t disappear?”
That question goes to the heart of Genuine Futures’ approach.
“Prevention means building the bridge before somebody falls.” – Sam Smith
Mike Alleyne: “You Cannot Build a Future Without Building Trust”
Genuine Futures Co-Director Mike Alleyne believes relationships must become a recognised part of the solution.
Qualifications matter.
Employment programmes matter.
Training matters.
But without trust, some young people will never reach those opportunities.
“You cannot build a future without building trust. Some young people have experienced years of services, referrals, assessments and adults telling them what they should be doing. What is often missing is somebody consistently walking alongside them.” – Mike Alleyne
Mike also believes behaviour and disengagement cannot be understood without understanding the person behind them.
“We have to stop looking at disengagement in isolation. There is usually a story behind it. Our responsibility is to understand that story, recognise the young person’s strengths and then create realistic steps forward.”
And crucially:
“A young person shouldn’t have to start again every time they move between a school, college, service or employment programme. The institutions need to connect around the young person, rather than expecting the young person to navigate everything alone.” – Mike Alleyne
Dropping Out of College Should Trigger Support, Not Disappearance
This is where Luis and Cameron’s experiences should challenge national policy.
Leaving college should not represent the end of support.
It should trigger a response.
Why did the young person leave?
What wasn’t working?
What are they interested in?
What alternative provision exists?
What employers could they meet?
Would practical learning work better?
Could enterprise engage them?
Do they need housing support?
Is confidence the barrier?
Is health affecting participation?
Is transport stopping them?
Are benefits creating unintended barriers?
Do they need a trusted adult?
And perhaps most importantly:
Who remains responsible until another pathway is established?
A young person should never be allowed to disappear simply because they have left one institution.
This Is Bigger Than Schools and Colleges
Schools and colleges have contributed to the NEET crisis.
But turning them into scapegoats would achieve nothing.
The problem stretches much further.
Employers
How many genuine entry-level opportunities exist for somebody without experience?
Young people repeatedly tell us they need experience to get a job but need a job to gain experience.
Employers have to become part of the pathway earlier.
Health
For some young people, physical and mental health challenges create significant barriers to participation.
Employment and health support cannot operate as separate worlds.
Housing
How do we expect a young person to build a career while worrying about where they are going to live?
Housing stability and economic participation are connected.
Welfare
We also need to examine whether transitions into employment always make economic sense for young people facing housing costs and other pressures.
Local government
Councils are often expected to coordinate fragmented systems without always having the resources, powers or long-term funding necessary.
Government
Short-term initiatives cannot solve problems created over decades.
Policy needs continuity, accountability and investment in prevention.
Communities
Community organisations and social enterprises frequently have the relationships statutory institutions struggle to build.
They should not be viewed simply as organisations to which difficult cases are referred.
They should be partners in designing the system.
NEET Is a Statistic – Not an Identity
Language matters.
NEET means:
Not in Education, Employment or Training.
It describes somebody’s circumstances at a particular moment.
It doesn’t tell us whether they are:
creative;
entrepreneurial;
practical;
kind;
resilient;
good with customers;
talented with their hands;
a future business owner;
a future youth worker;
a future mechanic;
a future tradesperson;
a future community leader.
Luis and Cameron demonstrate precisely why we should never allow an administrative classification to become somebody’s identity.
Britain Has a Missing Middle
Our education and employment system has traditionally expected something resembling:
School → College → Qualification → Employment
For many young people, that works.
For others, it doesn’t.
We need equally respected pathways such as:
School → Practical Learning → Employer Experience → Employment
School → Enterprise → Skills → Self-Employment
College Dropout → Immediate Outreach → Alternative Pathway → Employment
Exclusion → Trusted Adult → Practical Experience → Re-engagement
Care → Stable Housing → Trusted Support → Skills → Employment
These should not be treated as second-class alternatives.
They should form part of Britain’s mainstream opportunity system.
Prevention Needs to Start Years Earlier
Imagine if we changed our approach.
Attendance begins falling.
Act.
A child is repeatedly suspended.
Act.
A young person says school isn’t working.
Listen.
Someone drops out of college.
Find them.
An apprenticeship collapses.
Build another bridge.
A young person receives rejection after rejection from employers.
Introduce them directly to employers willing to develop talent.
Housing becomes unstable.
Bring housing support into the employment conversation.
Confidence disappears.
Give them somewhere to belong before demanding that they perform.
That is prevention.
Prevention isn’t simply an early intervention programme.
It is a different philosophy for how systems operate.
What Genuine Futures Is Building
Genuine Futures doesn’t believe another standalone programme will solve the NEET crisis.
Young people’s lives don’t fit neatly into programmes.
That is why we are developing an ecosystem of opportunity.
Through Boss Your Future, young people develop confidence, employability, enterprise skills and connections.
Through We Shine Any Car, young people experience customers, teamwork, responsibility and enterprise in a real community environment.
Through Clean Futures, young people can participate in environmental services, community improvement and practical employment opportunities.
Through Try a Trade, young people can experience industries before being expected to decide their future.
Through boxing, creative activity, youth voice, community projects and employer engagement, there are multiple entry points.
One young person might arrive because they want to wash cars.
Another because they want to box.
Another wants to try bricklaying.
Another wants to make music.
Another simply comes because their friend is there.
That’s fine.
Engagement comes before progression.
Sometimes Washing a Car Is the Intervention
Look at We Shine Any Car from the outside and you might see a car wash.
Look closer.
A young person leaves their bedroom.
They arrive somewhere.
Someone welcomes them.
Someone remembers their name.
They wash a car.
A customer thanks them.
They work alongside somebody.
They have lunch.
They meet a business owner.
They hear about a job.
They try boxing.
They learn something new.
They return next week.
Confidence starts rebuilding.
Then perhaps:
work experience;
college;
an apprenticeship;
employment;
self-employment;
or their own enterprise.
The car wash isn’t necessarily the destination.
It is the bridge.
Prevention Makes Economic Sense
There is also an economic argument Britain cannot afford to ignore.
Young people disconnected from education and employment represent enormous lost potential.
At the same time, employers across multiple sectors continue reporting skills shortages.
Think about that contradiction.
Businesses need people.
Our economy needs skills.
Communities need greater economic participation.
Yet huge numbers of young people remain disconnected from the pathways capable of taking them there.
Young people aren’t an economic liability that Britain needs to manage.
They are an economic asset we are failing to develop.
Investment in prevention should therefore be viewed as economic infrastructure.
Helping a young person move towards sustainable employment, enterprise and independence can create value for decades.
Accountability Should Follow the Young Person
This may be one of the most important reforms Britain could make.
Stop measuring institutions solely by what happens while somebody is inside them.
Ask what happened next.
Did they progress?
Did they remain in education?
Did they find employment?
Did they sustain it?
Did they enter an apprenticeship?
Did they start an enterprise?
If they disappeared:
Who noticed?
Who contacted them?
Who took responsibility?
Imagine an education and employment system where nobody could simply disappear between institutions.
That would be transformational.
Stop Passing Young People Between Silos
We don’t need schools trying to solve this alone.
Or colleges.
Or councils.
Or charities.
Or Jobcentres.
Or employers.
We need an ecosystem:
Schools + Colleges + Employers + Health + Housing + Local Authorities + Youth Services + Community Organisations + Social Enterprises + Families + Young People
working towards shared outcomes.
Not protecting institutional territory.
Not competing over funding.
Not endlessly referring young people elsewhere.
Working together.
Give Luis, Cameron and Other Young People a Seat at the Table
There is one final change Genuine Futures believes is essential.
Young people must help design what replaces the failing system.
Luis and Cameron shouldn’t simply become case studies.
They have knowledge.
They have experienced the system.
They know where the gaps are.
Cameron’s words capture it perfectly:
“It starts with one conversation and one seat at the table.”
And Luis’s journey demonstrates what becomes possible when young people begin believing in themselves again:
“We can achieve anything now.”
Imagine if national policymakers started there.
Not:
“How do we fix NEET young people?”
But:
“What would young people build differently?”
Young People Haven’t Failed – Our Systems Have
The NEET crisis wasn’t created yesterday.
The Milburn Review makes the scale and longevity of the challenge impossible to dismiss.
Schools have contributed.
Colleges have contributed.
But so have fragmented services, weak transitions, labour-market barriers, insufficient practical pathways, health inequalities, housing instability, short-term programmes and decades of policy that have repeatedly treated symptoms rather than causes.
There are excellent people working throughout those systems.
But good people working inside fragmented institutions do not automatically create a good system.
That distinction matters.
Because blaming individual professionals will achieve nothing.
Changing the architecture might.
Luis and Cameron Dropped Out of College. They Didn’t Drop Out of Their Future.
That is the message we want policymakers, educators and employers to remember.
Luis and Cameron both dropped out of college.
Today, they are demonstrating their strengths in different ways.
Their potential was always there.
Imagine how many more Luises and Camerons are sitting at home across Britain right now.
Young people who have been labelled disengaged.
Hard to reach.
NEET.
Not ready.
Not motivated.
Perhaps we should ask a different question.
Are they really hard to reach – or have our institutions become too difficult for them to reach?
Britain can continue creating programmes at the point of crisis.
Or we can build pathways much earlier.
We can continue asking why young people disengage.
Or start listening when they first tell us something isn’t working.
We can continue passing responsibility between institutions.
Or build a system where somebody remains alongside the young person until the next bridge is crossed.
As Sam Smith puts it:
“We cannot keep waiting until a young person becomes a statistic before deciding they need our attention. Prevention means seeing the potential earlier, listening earlier and creating opportunity earlier.”
The Milburn Review has helped diagnose the problem.
The next question is much bigger:
What are we prepared to change?
Bridging the Gap to Opportunity
Genuine Futures wants to work with schools, colleges, employers, local authorities, housing providers, NHS organisations, funders, community organisations and policymakers to build a different approach.
One based on:
Prevention before crisis.
Relationships before referrals.
Strengths before labels.
Opportunity before judgement.
Collaboration instead of silos.
And most importantly:
young people having a genuine seat at the table.
If your organisation believes we need to rethink how Britain supports young people from education into employment, enterprise and adulthood, we want to hear from you.
Let’s stop managing disengagement and start preventing it.
Genuine Futures CIC – Bridging the gap to opportunity.