Thursday briefing: The million young people the UK is leaving behind
In today’s newsletter: With more young people outside of work and education than ever before, researchers say the ‘Neet’ epidemic reflects a deeper crisis of mental health, opportunity and institutional failure
Good morning. Thousands of young people will be arriving at school in the next few hours to collect their GCSE results. Many will continue to sixth form, others will be heading to apprenticeships, and some will spend the next few years relentlessly pitching their CVs to AI bots.
An estimated one million young people in the UK aged 16 to 24 are not in education, employment or training of any kind. These “Neets”, as they’re known, have preoccupied policymakers since the early 1990s. But their number is now higher than ever, an indication of economic inactivity, low growth and rising welfare costs that worry civil servants in Whitehall. Alan Milburn, formerly health secretary under Tony Blair’s government, is now conducting a high-profile review of Neets. His final report is expected later this year.
The Neet issue exemplifies how an increasingly unhappy, isolated generation of young people are becoming detached from social institutions and losing faith in their own futures. For today’s First Edition, I spoke to psychologist Marc Mon-Williams who leads a study following the lives and development of 13,500 children in Bradford, about what’s going wrong for Britain’s youth. That’s after the headlines.
Five big stories
UK politics | Richard Tice should apologise to firefighters for his comments this week urging British people to “enjoy” this summer’s extreme heat, according to the Labour party chair.
West Sussex | A father who died alongside a woman and teenage girl off the coast of Shoreham-by-Sea was a Palestinian refugee, the Palestinian embassy has confirmed.
Energy | Household energy bills across Great Britain are expected to climb to a three-year high this winter, with the Middle East war wiping out Andy Burnham’s tax cut on electricity bills.
Ukraine | A heavy Russian bombardment killed at least six people and wounded dozens in Ukraine’s capital and its surrounding region overnight, authorities said on Thursday.
Gaza| The Israeli military admitted on Wednesday its troops had opened fire on a car carrying five-year-old Hind Rajab and six family members in Gaza in 2024, saying it had ordered a criminal investigation into the killing.
In depth: A generation falling through the cracks
First, a brief note on language: nobody ever calls themselves a “Neet”. In May, Milburn published his interim report, which found that the UK has the second-highest rate of Neets in Europe, after Romania. An accompanying paper, Inside the Mind of a Young Neet, featured snippets from conversations with more than 400 young people who were out of work and education. Its authors heard from a 22-year-old who was competing in archery contests, a gardening fanatic who had taught themselves how to make raised beds, and an aspiring linguist who could read Latin and crochet flower baskets. These are skilled young people with huge potential and meaningful lives. The problem lies in a system that is failing them.
Broadly, there are two explanations for why so many young people today aren’t in work or education. The first is the labour market. Businesses have argued that rising national insurance contributions are deterring firms from hiring young workers, while others have speculated that AI is destroying entry-level jobs. The second, more troubling explanation, is the striking number of young people who are unwell or have poor mental health.
The proportion of 18 to 24-year-olds with a long-term, limiting health condition has increased by 42% since 2019, while the number of 20 to 24-year-olds prescribed antidepressants increased by almost a third between 2015 and 2021. Britain now has the highest rate of anxiety and depressive disorders among 15 to 24-year-olds in the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development. “We often talk about the relationship between the labour market and poor health as being ‘bi-directional’,” Mon-Williams explains. People who are out of work are more likely to feel anxious or depressed, he says, while past experiences of anxiety or depression can become a barrier to entering the workforce. “Both come into play, which is why it’s so complex.”
What emerges from these figures is a picture of generational misery. As Mon-Williams puts it: “I really think we need to take a step back, take a good hard look at ourselves as a country, and ask : what on earth have we allowed to happen?”
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Why are young people so unhappy?
There’s a tendency (particularly among ageing right-wing commentators who depend on young people paying taxes that fund the NHS and state pensions) to blame these rates of ill-health on a culture of over-diagnosis among self-indulgent “snowflakes”. The Born in Bradford study refutes this myth. Mon-Williams and other researchers have access to the health records of 13,500 young people born in 2007, from pregnancy through to the present day, as well as data about their mental health. Many participants suffering from mental ill health struggle to get any support. “The evidence shows that there’s a genuine mental health epidemic among that generation,” he says. “These are warning signs. Pity the country that doesn’t take them seriously.”
Nor are Neets work-shy, or choosing to live off benefits rather than find a job. Most want to be in work or education. About 314,000 of them are not receiving any benefits at all, and have effectively disappeared from the system. As Milburn put it in his interim report, caricatures of a generation uninterested in employment or using mental health as an excuse “are myths. Sometimes cruel ones.”
Researchers have identified multiple reasons for growing rates of mental ill-health among young people, including financial precarity, housing insecurity, drastic cuts to youth clubs and youth workers, rising social media use and broken sleep (while compiling his interim report, a group of teenagers told Milburn they went to bed between midnight and three each night because they were scrolling on their phones).
The disciplinary, top-button-obsessed culture of many academy schools can also contribute to these problems by excluding children with complex needs or neurodivergence, making it more likely they become a Neet later. “When you exclude a child, you’re consigning them to the probability of having a rubbish life,” Mon-Williams tells me.
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Has the pandemic made this worse?
The pandemic aggravated an ongoing mental health crisis, cutting many young people off from school and severing their friendships and social bonds. In his Born in Bradford data, Mon-Williams found a striking increase in the number of children who were absent from school after Covid. “Pre-pandemic, in Bradford, we had 3,000 children who were persistently absent,” he says. “Post-pandemic, that went up to 30,000. That’s a hugely worrying statistic.”
Many young people missed out on opportunities to learn both academically and socially. “I lost the social aspect of connecting with people … maintaining eye contact, hand gestures and all sorts,” one young person told the Inside the Mind of a Neet researchers. For some, patterns cultivated in lockdown – long nights spent online, disrupted sleep patterns, minimal social contact and eroded routines – morphed into a semi-permanent stasis.
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What needs to change?
Milburn’s interim findings acknowledges that there needs to be a “system reset”. There’s also been a lot of chatter in Westminster about “hard hats” and vocational training, which is an improvement on the status quo (Britain has far fewer young people on vocational courses than Germany or the Netherlands).
Mon-Williams argues that we should be thinking about preventing someone from becoming a Neet right from the start of their life. That would mean ensuring that pregnant mothers have enough support, that families can access Sure-Start centres, that young people arrive at school ready to learn, and that teenagers leave with a clear plan, a sense of confidence and direction, and some work experience on their CV. “I’m glad that we’re starting to wake up,” he said. “It breaks my heart, this stuff. But as a society, we could change it.”
What else we’ve been enjoying
Who is Natalie Harp? David Smith gave a fascinating insight into the “human printer” who has become one of Trump’s closest aides. Hettie
Alexander Hurst’s piece on how flag culture wars have come to Iceland offers a window on how one progressive government has endeavoured to resolve them. Libby
I enjoyed Jim Waterson’s piece in the Financial Times (£) about his years-long investigation into the weird world of tax-dodging American Candy shops. Hettie
I’m a big fan of Scottish photographer Wendy McMurdo and these latest images from a new exhibition of how tech is changing play do not disappoint. Libby
I’ve been feeling increasingly cross at reports of dinosaur skeletons selling to the highest private bidder. Science Weekly asks why fossils have become big business and what it means for research. Libby
Sport
Cricket | Josh Tongue (5-46) and Ollie Robinson (5-51) dismissed Pakistan for 171 and Joe Root and Jordan Cox added an unbeaten 64 to put England only 59 runs behind.
Football | Richard Masters has sought to reassure fans that the Premier League remains “everything that it should be” after the Folarin Balogun red-card scandal called the integrity of disciplinary decisions into question.
Tennis | Teenage ace Rafael Jódar loses narrowly in fourth round of the Cincinnati Open yet the buzz around him will only get louder.
The front pages
“Working in Starmer’s No 10 was unbearable, says ex-chief of staff”, is the Guardian’s splash today.
The top story in the Times is “Vaccine for skin cancer helps fight off disease” and similarly for the i Paper which says “New skin vaccine can stop disease and offers hope for era of personalised jabs”. The FT’s take is “Moderna shares double after success for custom-made skin cancer vaccine”.
Metro leads on “Refugee family who drowned in seaside tragedy”, while the Mirror writes “Day trip tragedy”. The Mail has “Ministers forced to tell asylum seekers: Don’t rape women”, and the Express says “Don’t rape or beat up women when in Britain”. Lastly, the Telegraph leads on “Harry’s coming home”, a report also carried by the Sun, which says “Harry & Meg coming home”.
The Latest
Will Andy Burnham get rough sleepers off streets by Christmas?
The prime minister has announced a £442m plan to get rough sleepers off the streets by Christmas. It solidifies tackling homelessness as a central policy for Andy Burnham’s government, and gives voters a measure by which to judge his success – although without a concrete target for ministers to hit. Nosheen Iqbal speaks to social policy editor Patrick Butler.
Cartoon of the day | Nicola Jennings
The Upside
A bit of good news to remind you that the world’s not all bad
The Outdoor Access Trust for Scotland is a vital environmental charity promoting and preserving sustainable public access to the great outdoors. With essential funding limited, volunteers are at the heart of their work, rolling up their sleeves in some of the country’s most breathtaking spots of natural beauty to build and repair footpaths, infrastructure and habitats. Writer Mike MacEacheran recently joined them on one of their regular events and found a “joyful shared experience” that proves as good for the soul as it does the natural world.
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Bored at work?
And finally, the Guardian’s puzzles are here to keep you entertained throughout the day. Until tomorrow.