A Manifesto for Action: Young People not in Education, Employment or Training

URGENT ACTION REQUIRED FOR 1 MILLION YOUNG NEET’s

10 recommendations to immediately improve support for around 1 million young people not in education, employment or training (NEET)

Graham Stuart, Chairman of Education Select Committee last night endorsed “A Manifesto for Action” for young people not in education, employment or training (NEET). The manifesto produced by the Private Equity Foundation outlines a ten-point action plan to support an estimated 938,000 (Q4 2010) young people in the category of NEET.

Graham Stuart said: “I welcome the Private Equity Foundation’s manifesto on action for young people not in education, employment or training (NEET). With around 1 million young people falling into this category we urgently need leadership and a coordinated strategy to help each one reach their full potential. The Private Equity Foundation is uniquely positioned as an intermediary and expert on the NEETs issue to make this call for action.”

Last week the Coalition Government budget announced 40,000 apprenticeships and an increase in work experience for young people but Shaks Ghosh, Chief Executive of the Private Equity Foundation says, this is not enough:

“This is the critical social issue in the UK, around a million young people face a revolving door of missed opportunity and it’s all too often nobody’s priority. Today we say they are our priority, we must join up services across the public, private and voluntary sectors.”

The Manifesto for Action calls for system-wide change to tackle the NEET issue. It makes recommendations to help drive change through greater leadership and understanding of what works throughout the system. Alongside this, it highlights mechanisms to support the financing of the interventions for NEET’s and the delivery of strong joined-up support for young people who are, or are at risk of becoming, NEET.

Shaks Ghosh:

“This is unachievable without better coordination. One generation of NEET costs an estimated £35 billion (Audit Commission 2010) – no one can put a value on the human cost”

The ten recommendations include:

Create better coordination – a ‘NEET taskforce’ could coordinate policy
Focus on prevention – resources allocated according to likelihood of being NEET
Publish transparent information on performance – objective comparisons of results drives improved delivery
Increase investment on NEET – longer-term financing for proven interventions
Reform Commissioning – increase collaboration between local authorities and service providers, create standard processes to reduce red tape
Grow the best provision – increase networked commissioning and business support for the best providers
Foster better links to employment – make it easier for employers to engage with young people
Support case management approach for those most at risk – this will help them to navigate the variety of support services they need
Improve information on local provision – create clear measures of success locally
Increase knowledge of what works – establish an anonymous database on the effectiveness of interventions

For more detail on each recommendation and to read the manifesto in full please click here

Community Links is a portfolio charity partner of the Private Equity Foundation who run a wide range of community projects for 30,000 people every year. Chief Executive Geraldine Blake said:

“The Private Equity Foundation’s manifesto is a powerful call to action, together we can tackle the challenges faced by young people who are not in education, employment or training ‘NEET’. PEF’s understanding of what works is excellent and their investments important. This manifesto provides a bridge for action between the critical political and practical arenas. We look forward to playing our part.” www.community-links.org

NOTES TO EDITORS

Last month the Private Equity Foundation partnered with the think tank Demos warning of a future boom in the number of young people who are not in education, employment or training (NEET). Research found that the numbers of NEETs could reach 1.2 million by 2015 without action to tackle the high levels of exclusion of young people from the workforce. This culminated in the ‘Forgotten Half’ report highlighting the danger that UK secondary schools are failing half of all young people who do not go on to higher education.

To read the ‘Forgotten Half’ please click here

The Private Equity Foundation is a leading venture philanthropy fund that works with carefully selected charities to support disadvantaged children and empower young people to reach their full potential. Its mission is to reduce the number of young people who become NEET (not in education, employment or training) and its investments include not just money but also pro bono expertise from the private equity community. By sharing its members’ business skills, PEF can maximise the social return on its donors’ investments and help charities achieve a step change in their impact to ensure even more young people benefit. Further information is available at www.privateequityfoundation.org

Shaks Ghosh, Chief Executive of the Private Equity Foundation is available for comment and interview. For more information please contact:

JOE HEWITT

joe@privateequityfoundation.org

020 7749 5131