According to the latest Labour Force Survey the number of young people (aged 16 to 24) who are not in employment, education or training – the so-called NEETs – recently exceeded one million. Much concern has been raised about the number. However, the Chamber believes the focus should be on those receiving Universal Credit for more than a year.
The legendary Harvard Professor Richard Zeckhauser warned about the danger of seeking refuge in complexity. The definition of NEETs includes so many diverse groups that it invites complexity – enabling the real problem to be hidden amongst the crowd. Sir Humphrey could hardly have designed it better.
Contrary to public perception, approximately a third of NEETs do not claim benefits. Some are supported by their parents, some caring for relatives, others taking a gap year and so forth. Such eminent figures as Charles Darwin, Albert Einstein and George Orwell would have qualified as NEETs. A modern example is Dale Vince, the multi-millionaire founder of Ecotricity. Not exactly a roll-call of wasted lives.
Alan Milburn in his recent Report came to the conclusion that the rise in the number of NEETs was due to a total system failure. A system can hardly fail someone who isn’t using it. It shows the confusion sown by a negative definition such as NEET.
The Chamber decided the best approach was to follow the money. What surprised us was that no elaborate investigation was required. The figures are already held in a publicly accessible DWP database (Stat-Xplore), which we were able to interrogate with the help of AI. The trail was not well hidden.
We found that in May 2026 among 40% of Universal Credit (UC) went to those required to look for work and 39% to those who had no such requirement. However, the May figures took no account of churn – those temporarily out of work. The more significant statistic was how many claimants in each group had been receiving benefits for more than a year.
We discovered, of those who were looking for work, just over a third had been claiming UC for over a year – as expected, churn accounted for a large part but by no means the whole part. For those not looking for work the number rose to over three quarters. Churn was beginning to look rather permanent. Together the two groups represent 400,000 individuals or just 40% of the NEET population.
There used to be a saying: give a dog a bad name and hang him. The Chamber believes focusing on NEETs in general risks undermining the self-confidence of those just passing through. Darwin, after all, eventually found something to do – and avoided being “a disgrace to his family”.
The Chamber is currently working on ways to help local young people into work. If you have ideas to share, please get in touch. New members welcome. Sudbury.org.uk
