In this blog, Dr Padmini Iyer (Making The Leap’s Head of Research and Advocacy) outlines how Making The Leap has contributed to the Milburn Review into young people and work, and our recommendations to address the UK’s youth NEET crisis.
Introduction: the UK’s youth NEET crisis
At Making The Leap, we welcome the new Prime Minister’s decision to prioritise the UK’s crisis of young people not in education, employment or training (NEET). Over the summer, there have been a number of encouraging policy announcements: increased technical education and training linked to local jobs, apprenticeship bursaries for low-income families, and early intervention in schools to support children at risk of becoming NEET at age 16.
Why do we welcome these announcements? Over one million young people (aged 16 to 24) in the UK are NEET, while multiple industries report skills and labour shortages. This is clearly a gap that needs to be bridged, in the interests of young people, employers, and the UK economy as a whole. We are therefore encouraged that youth employment is a key element of the Prime Minister’s aim to achieve good growth in every postcode.
Later this year, the independent Milburn Review will share its recommendations on how to address the UK’s youth NEET crisis. The Review is happening in two stages: the first stage was published in May 2026 and identified the key problems driving the crisis. The second stage, due in Autumn 2026, will share recommended solutions.
The first stage of the Milburn Review highlights significant gaps in young people’s readiness for work and access to meaningful careers support, including:
* Low levels of work readiness, with only 47% of 18–24‑year‑olds (and just 36% of those who are NEET) feeling ready for work when they leave education.
* Inadequate careers guidance in schools is a frequently cited reason for this lack of preparedness.
* Lack of work experience is the single most‑cited barrier to employment among young people, with especially low take-up among less advantaged young people. Globally, the UK has one of the lowest levels of work experience participation.
To inform its second, ‘solutions’ stage, the Milburn Review team has been consulting with a range of stakeholders, including youth employment organisations. Over the past few months, Making The Leap has been sharing our insights and expertise to inform this vital policy process.
In this blog, we outline the policy recommendations Making The Leap has contributed to the Milburn Review and explain how you can get involved with our work to address the youth NEET crisis.
How has Making The Leap contributed to the Milburn Review?
Making The Leap is a member of the Youth Employment Group (YEG), a coalition of youth employment experts working to remove barriers to youth employment. In June 2026, YEG invited members to submit policy recommendations for the Milburn Review. After analysing members’ submissions, YEG shared the four most common themes to the Milburn Review team. In July 2026, Making The Leap’s Research and Policy Officer, Kya Christensen, took part in an online YEG workshop with the Milburn Review team to further inform their solutions phase.
Our policy recommendations
Making The Leap recommends that the Department for Education (DfE) develops a new, comprehensive delivery model to provide young people with long-term support and access to high-quality experiences of work:
1. Targeted support for young people from LSEBs
Our recommended delivery model would benefit all young people – but it must be designed to provide targeted support for young people from less advantaged socio-economic backgrounds (LSEBs).
Why? Young people from less advantaged backgrounds are more than twice as likely to be NEET (22%) than their more advantaged peers (9%). We therefore recommend prioritising the following key groups identified by the Milburn Review: young people living in poverty, those from ‘lower working‑class backgrounds’, and those who lived in a household at age 14 where no one was earning.
2. Consistent, long-term support from youth employment specialists
Our recommended model would be delivered through specialist youth employment partners and aligned with the Gatsby Benchmarks for ages 11 to 24. Youth employment specialists would work directly with education providers and youth-facing community organisations to provide young people with sustained, practical support. They would also support young people over the long term – through key transitions and into work – replacing the disconnected and often short-term approach within the current system.
Why? Over the past 30 years, our work with less advantaged young people, schools, colleges, universities and employers has allowed us to develop deep insights into what works – and what doesn’t – within the system. Making The Leap, and youth employment organisations like us across the UK, therefore have the necessary experience and infrastructure to provide coherent, long-term support to young people over extended periods and through key transitions. Based on our direct work with employers and educators, we also know that – while schools and colleges are familiar with the Gatsby Benchmarks – it is neither realistic nor sustainable to expect education professionals to deliver careers support alone. The Milburn Review also notes that the current delivery mechanisms are insufficient, particularly for less advantaged young people.
3. Skills, mentoring, workplace experience and financial support
Informed by the key principles above, our recommended delivery model would involve youth employment specialists supporting young people from LSEBs over the long term, in the following areas:
* Soft skills development including confidence, communication, motivation, and teamwork
* Employability skills development such as application support, CV development and interview preparation
* Tailored careers mentoring and guidance, joined up from school to college and university to ensure consistency from ages 11 to 24
* Direct workplace experiences, including opportunities linked to recruitment processes, apprenticeships and job opportunities
Bursaries to cover travel, subsistence and provide necessary technology for participation
Why? Every year, we see the positive impact of supporting school pupils and young adults in these areas. Improved confidence in interview settings, a better understanding of what makes a strong CV, exposure to real-life work experience, ongoing mentoring and guidance – these are all key factors in ensuring our young people achieve the education, employment and training (EET) outcomes they aspire to. Our recommended model therefore focuses on systematically providing these interventions across the country, along with financial support to ensure young people from LSEBs can access these opportunities.
4. Reallocating existing funds
We recommend that unspent Growth and Skills Levy funds are redirected to education providers via the DfE, using existing funding mechanisms to ensure swift and efficient deployment. This offers a practical and effective way for local education providers to commission the youth services and interventions that align with the specific needs of their students.
Funds should be allocated on the basis that education providers organise a minimum number of required hours of group‑based and one‑to‑one careers guidance, with expectations that Levy funds are used to pay youth employment specialists. Allocations should scale according to student need – for example, increasing for students with special educational needs and/or disabilities (SEND), those requiring mental health support or relevant place-based challenges.
Why? We are aware that the UK government is facing multiple, competing funding priorities across policy areas. Our approach therefore involves reallocating existing funds through existing mechanisms, rather than finding new funding sources.
What happens next?
We were pleased to see that key elements of our recommendations were reflected in the top four themes submitted to the Milburn Review by the Youth Employment Group: trusted adults, work experience and work exposure, apprenticeship employment support, and an overhaul of the education system. We are looking forward to the Milburn Review’s solutions report in Autumn 2026, and we hope the government remains committed to prioritising youth employment as a key driver of growth.
How can you get involved?
Whether through our direct delivery or our research and advocacy work, Making The Leap is working every day to address the UK’s youth NEET crisis. We would love you to join us on this vital mission – here’s how you can get involved.
If you are…
* A young person (aged 18 to 30) looking for work: sign up for our ACE Programme to develop the skills and connections you need to succeed in the workplace.
* A school, college or university: contact our Education Team to discuss our high-impact, bespoke programmes to support your students to develop employability and soft skills.
* An employer: get in touch to explore the ways you can partner with us to tackle the youth NEET crisis – whether you’re interested in partnering with us on volunteering opportunities for your staff, accessing new talent, or becoming a leading advocate on social mobility in the UK, we’d be delighted to work with you.
