Yorkshire's young people need a path, not a label: Anthony Thompson

Too often, we talk about NEETs, young people not in education, employment or training, as though the issue starts at 16. It doesn’t. NEET is just the terrible label put on you when you cannot follow the straight line into further education and work, when you are passed from one part of the system to another.

An estimated 13.5 per cent of all 16 to 24-year-olds in the UK were classed as NEET in the first quarter of 2026, representing more than one million young people. Across Yorkshire in 2024/25, the most recent data we’ve seen, 4,821 young people were recorded as NEET. Around 20 per cent of them were in Leeds, where the figure stood at 960.

If we want to solve the problem, we need to stop focusing solely on those who have already fallen out of the system and start focusing on those at risk of falling out next.

Over the last 27 years, I have learned one simple lesson: young people rarely become disconnected overnight. The signs are usually there years earlier.

Attendance starts to fall. A child’s needs go unidentified. A family struggles to access the right support. Slowly, that young person begins to lose their connection with education and, more importantly, their belief that they belong within it.

This is why I pay so much attention to Children Missing Education data. CMEs are children of compulsory school age who are not registered at a school, placed in alternative provision by a local authority or getting suitable education at home.

In 2024/25, more than 21,000 children across Yorkshire were recorded as CME. In South Yorkshire alone, the figure was almost 10,000. These are clearly early warning signs.

Many of tomorrow’s NEET figures are already visible in today’s attendance, exclusion and CME data. The encouraging thing is that this means we can do something about it.

I am optimistic about the direction of travel. SEND and Alternative Provision reform creates an opportunity to support children before they reach crisis point. This is not about blaming schools or local authorities. Every day, I see dedicated professionals supporting children with increasingly complex needs.

Andy Burnham talks about hope. I believe in partnership too. We need mainstream schools, specialist provision, local government, employers and community organisations pulling in the same direction. Most importantly, we need to stop seeing Alternative Provision as a last resort and start seeing it as part of a wider prevention strategy.

If we can identify needs earlier, build trust earlier and create pathways earlier, fewer young people will ever become NEET. When Andy opened our NESTA vocational training centre, he said every young person should be on a path.

Yorkshire now has an opportunity to turn that ambition into reality and ensure that every child can see the path ahead.

Anthony Thompson is CEO of Navigators