Opinion: Can Andy Burnham solve Britain’s NEET crisis?

Finito World

Nearly a million young Britons are neither earning nor learning. The Prime Minister wants to transform the welfare system, but the real challenge may be rebuilding confidence, ambition and the belief that a working life is possible.

There are few more dispiriting statistics in modern Britain than this one: 981,000 young people aged between 16 and 24 are not in education, employment or training.

That is approximately one in eight young people. Behind the statistic are nearly a million individual stories: abandoned ambitions, unsuccessful applications, interrupted educations, illnesses, difficult family circumstances and, in some cases, the gradual disappearance of confidence.

In an article for The Times, Prime Minister Andy Burnham has described the situation as an economic catastrophe and a moral failure. He is surely right. A country which allows so many of its young people to drift away from the world of work is not merely squandering economic potential. It is permitting a profound waste of human possibility.

Burnham’s proposed solution is to turn the welfare system on its head. Instead of beginning with an assessment of which benefits somebody qualifies for, the government should begin by asking what that person hopes to achieve, and what support they need to get there.

It is a welcome change of emphasis.

For too long, the debate about welfare has been conducted as though there were only two possible positions: either benefits should be protected as an expression of compassion, or reduced as an incentive to work.

Neither approach, on its own, is adequate to the complexity of the problem.

Some young people have serious disabilities or health conditions which prevent them from working. Others have experienced prolonged unemployment, educational failure or social isolation. Some are looking after relatives. Still others have simply never encountered the person or opportunity capable of setting them on a different course.

To treat all these individuals as a single category is already to misunderstand them.

Burnham proposes greater investment in technical education, apprenticeships, work placements and mental health provision. The government has also announced commitments from employers in sectors including hospitality, retail, construction and professional services.

These are encouraging developments. But their success will depend on something which is much harder to legislate for: the quality of the relationship between a young person and the people attempting to help them.

Anyone who has worked closely with young people struggling to enter employment will recognise that the obstacles are seldom purely practical.

A candidate may have an adequate CV, reasonable qualifications and access to vacancies, yet remain convinced that nobody will employ them. They may have lost the habit of presenting themselves confidently, or developed an almost instinctive expectation of rejection.

Others have never been encouraged to think seriously about their abilities. Their ambitions may be vague not because they lack intelligence or talent, but because nobody has taken sufficient interest in helping them discover either.

This is where mentoring becomes important.

A good mentor does more than identify a vacancy or recommend a training course. They listen carefully, recognise abilities which the individual may not yet recognise, and help translate uncertainty into achievable steps.

Sometimes the decisive intervention is surprisingly small: a conversation, a successful interview, a first day in a workplace, or simply the experience of being taken seriously by another adult.

These experiences can change the direction of a life.

There is, however, another difficulty with the government’s ambitions. An apprenticeship guarantee is only meaningful if employers can provide worthwhile apprenticeships. Work placements must lead somewhere. Training should correspond to actual vacancies rather than simply improving the statistics of participation.

And the government cannot simultaneously ask businesses to employ more inexperienced young people while ignoring the financial risks involved in taking them on.

The Confederation of British Industry has recently argued that reducing certain employer National Insurance costs could generate tens of thousands of additional jobs, particularly for younger workers. Its proposals underline an essential truth: helping young people into employment requires action on both sides of the labour market.

Nor should success be measured merely by the number of young people entering a placement. The more important question is how many remain in employment six months or a year later, and whether they have begun to acquire the confidence and skills needed for a sustainable career.

Former Labour minister Alan Milburn’s forthcoming review will provide a further opportunity to examine these questions.

But perhaps the most important aspect of Burnham’s intervention is philosophical.

Work is not simply a mechanism for earning money. At its best, it provides structure, friendship, responsibility, independence and a growing sense of competence. It enables people to discover qualities in themselves which might otherwise remain dormant.

Of course, not every job is fulfilling, and employment cannot substitute for appropriate medical or social support. But the possibility of making a contribution, and of being recognised for doing so, is fundamental to many people’s experience of dignity.

For young people especially, that first experience of usefulness can be transformative.

Britain’s NEET crisis will not be solved by a slogan, a new administrative category or another government target. It requires schools, employers, training providers, charities and mentors to work together, with sustained attention to the individual rather than the statistic.

Burnham has correctly identified the moral dimension of the problem. His challenge now is to ensure that the machinery of government can deliver something as personal as opportunity.

Because the real measure of success will not simply be a reduction in the welfare bill.

It will be the number of young people who begin to believe, perhaps for the first time, that they have a future worth working towards.