● “University or bust” education system failing millions of young people.
● Lack of vocational and technical pathways ruins lives of those who fall behind at primary level.
● Apprenticeship system “ravaged” by constant policy churn.
Andy Burnham is today [Sunday July 26] urged to make rewiring Britain’s faltering education system a key priority of his government.
The new Prime Minister, who has criticised the existing system for overlooking vocational and technical pathways for non-academic teenagers, should embark on major reforms to solve the NEET crisis, which now costs the country £125 billion a year as a million young people languish without work, education or training.
Mr Burnham helped create the Manchester Baccalaureate – a technical qualification – when he was mayor of the city.
He said at the time “for too long we have ignored the value of technical skills. We want to create equivalent opportunities for our young people in Greater Manchester and ensure they are provided with the tools to achieve their career aspirations”.
A new report from the Centre for Social Justice (CSJ) argues that a similar approach needs to be taken at a national level to halt the spiralling numbers of NEETs.
The report, Rewiring Education: A new path from school to work, the second in a series of major education policy papers by the think tank, reveals how “our university-or-bust education system, built for London, has consistently failed young people transitioning into adulthood, especially across the Midlands and North” for well over a decade.
It points to how, as far back as 2006, one in five young people in the North East were not in education, employment or training (NEET).
Since the early 2000s, the rate of NEET 16-to-24-year-olds has averaged 13 per cent. Today, over one million young people – 13.5 per cent – are classed as NEET.
However, the crisis is accelerating with more than a quarter of a million more NEETs in just five years and numbers projected to continue to rise.
The report cites new official figures finding that for each NEET individual, even if they re-enter the labour market, they will lose up to £300,000 in earnings over their lifetime. For the nation, the crisis costs £125 billion a year and rising.
Andy Cook, Chief Executive at the Centre for Social Justice, said:
We will never tackle the NEET crisis if we continue as we are. It is time to admit that we have failed too many young people by refusing to learn from the countries that properly value technical learning. For too long Britain has been obsessed with shuttling school leavers onto low-paying and high-debt uni courses.
We must now put a relentless focus on supporting young people to get on and succeed in work.
Prime Minister Andy Burnham previously echoed calls for a technical alternative to end the NEETs crisis at a CSJ event in January 2026, saying:
The Government that I was in set the 50 per cent target for university without having anything to say to the other 50 per cent, and I couldn’t support that then and I didn’t.
The CSJ has begun to change the conversation in this country about an education that works for all, and it chimes with everything we have tried to do in Greater Manchester.
What we are trying to do is build an academic and technical parity in an education system that offers everyone a route.
The think tank says that this failure is an outlier in Europe, explaining that “while our NEET rate has fallen below one tenth only once in the 2000s, European countries have reduced their rates as low as 3.1 per cent. Our rate of economic inactivity is above comparable northern European nations, including Germany, the Netherlands, Austria, and Denmark.”
It highlights three main reasons that the UK is unable to resolve the NEET crisis.
- Those who fall behind in the UK are left behind. For example, up to 40,000 children behind in reading in Year 6 are set to be NEET for 12 months or more.
- Children who have been suspended are twice as likely to become NEET, and those who have been persistently absent are 6.3 times as likely to become persistently NEET.
- Our further education system (FE) is asked to be both a safety net for those who fall behind and the route for producing technical excellence from 16. It struggles to achieve either with only 44 per cent of employers believing vocational courses prepare learners well for the workplace and FE college leavers are two-and-a-half times as likely not to sustain either further education or employment as school leavers (23 per cent versus 9 per cent).
The CSJ also criticises how successive governments have “ravaged” the apprenticeship system with over centralisation and constant policy churn. Despite apprenticeships providing excellent value the system remains unable to become meaningfully impactful in upskilling young people.
Instead, the CSJ calls on the government to rewire our education system to ensure it is building routes for those falling behind and to follow the best practice examples of the Netherlands, Singapore, and Germany.
It has three key recommendations for the next Prime Minister to consider:
- Introduce a technical alternative to the EBacc: From age 14, pupils should be able to pursue a nationally recognised Technical Baccalaureate combining English, maths and science with subjects such as engineering, construction and computing. Inspired by the Dutch system and trailblazed by the Manchester Baccalaureate, this would bring technical education earlier, tailored to regional industries with routes into T Levels, apprenticeships and skilled work. From Year 7, pupils would also receive a programme of careers and employability education based on Singapore’s successful ‘Education and Career Guidance’ model.
- Turn FE colleges into launchpads for work: FE colleges are currently expected both to rescue young people who have fallen behind and to deliver high-level technical training. The two jobs should be separated. Technical Excellence Colleges should focus on training for skilled industries, while specialist charities and social enterprises should provide more intensive support for young people at risk of becoming NEET. New V Levels should also include subsidised paid work placements, giving young people experience, an income and a clearer route into a permanent job.
- Put local employers back in charge of apprenticeships: Shift control over apprenticeship funding, standards and provision away from Whitehall and towards regional leaders and employers who understand their local economies. Modelled on Germany’s employer-led system and building on successes in Greater Manchester and Sheffield, the reforms would enable training to match local skills shortages while giving young apprentices better practical support and mentoring.
Daniel Lilley, Head of Youth the CSJ, said:
Our education system has improved remarkably in the last fifteen years, but we have not solved the system’s inability to stop so many slipping through the cracks. These reforms form the first building block in rewiring our education system towards one where there is a thriving academic and technical route – and where children are not left behind.
We must aspire to become a technical education superpower in the way we are a higher education superpower.
The report comes as analysis reveals the average graduate earns over £5,000 a year less than the average higher level (L4) apprentice five years after qualifying, rising to over £10,000 less for the bottom 25 per cent of graduates.
ENDS
NOTES TO EDITORS
The full report, Rewiring Education: A new path from school to work, is available here: centreforsocialjustice.org.uk/library/rewiring-education-from-school-to-work.
Methodology: CSJ analysis of DfE education outcomes data found that, in tax year 2022/23, median earnings for higher level (L4) apprentices five years after qualifying aged 19 to 24 were £37,300, compared with £32,100 for UK-domiciled first degree graduates who began their course before age 21, five years after graduation, and £24,800 for the bottom quartile of graduates. The Milburn Review estimated the annual cost of almost one million young people being NEET at £125 billion, including the long-term scarring caused by extended periods out of education and work.
Research from NatCen finds that 30 per cent of pupils below the expected KS2 reading standard subsequently spend at least 12 months NEET, compared with 9 per cent of those meeting it. Applying these rates to the 2024/25 KS2 cohort produces an estimate of around 39,000 of last year’s cohort at risk of becoming NEET.