A review led by former Labour health secretary Alan Milburn warns that the number of young people not in education, employment or training (NEET) could reach 1.25 million by 2031, representing one in six young people in the UK. Currently, around one in eight (12.8%) aged 16-24 are NEET, according to the latest figures from October to December 2025, totalling 957,000.
Milburn's Findings
Milburn, who is conducting the review for the government, will publish his interim report on Thursday. He has previously highlighted a 'bedroom generation' and linked anxiety from social media to rising economic inactivity among young people. The report states that six in ten NEETs have never had a job, compared to four in ten twenty years ago, and warns that detachment is becoming permanent, risking a 'lost generation'.
System Failure
Milburn argues that the first rung of the career ladder has thinned and is now out of reach for many young people, creating a 'hopeless Catch-22' where employers demand experience but opportunities have narrowed. He emphasises that this is not a failure of young people but a failure of a system stuck in the past, including education, health, and welfare, which often puts young people on a path to benefits rather than jobs.
Call for Urgent Action
The review calls for urgent government priority, noting that 84% of NEETs surveyed want a job or training, challenging the narrative that they do not want to work. It also highlights a fundamental imbalance: for every £1 spent on employment support for young people, around £25 is spent on benefits. Entry-level jobs have declined sharply, with 1.6 million fewer low and medium-skilled jobs, hospitality vacancies halving in four years, Saturday jobs declining, and apprenticeship starts among young people falling 35% in the past decade.
Government Response
Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden, who described youth unemployment as a 'quiet crisis' and 'ticking timebomb', will reportedly announce 300,000 extra work experience placements over three years. He welcomed Milburn's work and pledged cross-government action with employers, charities, and young people.
Reactions
Marks & Spencer chief executive Stuart Machin called the findings 'shocking but not surprising'. The Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) said an entire generation is being let down, and the priority must be ensuring every young person can access good training and secure work. David Hughes of the Association of Colleges stressed that colleges must be at the heart of the system with proper investment. The Joseph Rowntree Foundation highlighted a clear link between growing up in poverty and being NEET, with young people in persistent poverty three times more likely to be NEET at ages 17 or 23. Big Issue founder John Bird urged recognition that poverty is the driving force of the NEET crisis. Shadow work and pensions secretary Helen Whately criticised the government for piecemeal programmes and policies that make it harder for young people to enter work.
