When you picture the million young people who aren’t earning or learning in the UK, maybe you imagine them all waiting their turn at the Jobcentre.
But the reality is quite different – in England, nearly half of 18-24s in this boat aren’t claiming any benefits, according to Alan Milburn’s recent report.
This group is “the hidden”.
They’re more likely to be isolated at home, becoming increasingly anxious about what they can offer the world.
We meet many “hidden” young people at Spear – they were over a quarter of our trainees last year – and we see them go on to rewrite their future.
But, nearly all government support for young people who aren’t in education, employment or training (NEET) is delivered via the benefits system. So if you’re hidden from that, you’re also largely hidden from state support to help you move into work or learning.
Today, the youth charity Impetus shines a light on “hidden NEETs” and publishes a new figure for the financial cost to the UK of the million young people not earning or learning: £244 billion.
This is based on £244,000 for each young person who becomes NEET, over their lifetime and includes, for example, lost tax revenue.
It’s a figure that should shock all of us. Alongside it is the human cost to each of those young people.
Reaching out a hand
Impetus’ new report, Closing the Youth Jobs Gap, proposes reforms such as better tracking of whether young people are in work or study, up to the age of 24, and “supercharging” Youth Hubs to become the core place for young people to get employment support, rather than the Jobcentre. We think this makes sense, if young people get a trusted coach there.
At Spear, we know that when a young person has a trusted coach who will challenge and support them, and stick with them for months not weeks, it significantly boosts their chances of getting into work or study.
Dominic secured a job at Nando’s after doing Spear in Leeds. He says: “These coaches...were on your level and just helping you, like how an old friend puts out a hand to you when you're at your lowest, and you needed that...to get out of that hole. That's how it felt to be inspired.”
Hit-and-miss support
We measure everything we do at Spear to understand what’s effective and what isn’t, so we can keep improving the Spear Programme. Impetus’ report mentions some snapshot research we did recently which found Jobcentres aren’t so lucky.
We’d found no evidence that Jobcentre work coaches knew whether they were referring young people to support that actually works. We spoke to seven Jobcentre work coaches who confirmed our concerns.
We urge all support providers to publish their success rates, so work coaches don’t waste time and money sending young people to schemes that make no difference to their chances.
And if you know a young person who’s hidden from the system – or that’s you – we encourage you to get in touch with Spear, where you’ll find support that’s proven to work.