March 20, 2026
The NEETs Crisis: Rewiring education to unlock young people’s potential
Over one million 16-to-24-year-olds are NEET, and three in five of them have no qualifications beyond GCSEs. Around 13 per cent of UK 16-to-24-year-olds are NEET, compared to 8 per cent in Germany and under 4 per cent in the Netherlands.
This crisis is urgent and worsening – there are over 250,000 more NEETs than there were in the first quarter of 2021. But it is also longstanding and has never dropped below 9.7 per cent since the early 2000s.
Speakers
Rt Hon Alan Milburn
Author of government review on NEETs
Rt Hon Lord Michael Gove
Editor of the Spectator
Jo Coburn
Journalist, Times Radio
