There is “growing concern” about the number of Newcastle youngsters falling out of work or education.
City leaders have expressed mounting worries about the number of young people, especially those from poorer areas and vulnerable groups, who are not in education, employment or training (NEET).
According to latest Government data, 6.9% of 16 or 17-year-olds in the city are NEET – the second highest rate in the North East, behind only Stockton, and a major increase from just 4.4% in 2020.
But councillors were told this week that the situation is far worse among some of Tyneside’s most vulnerable youngsters, who are “falling through the cracks”.
According to Newcastle City Council, 42% of young people involved with the Youth Justice Service are NEET, 30% of care leavers are disengaged, and 91% of young parents aged 16–18 are not participating in education or employment.
Robin Beveridge, the council’s economic advisor, reported that there was a “growing concern” for NEETS in particular, among wider worries about the North East having the worst rates of economic inactivity in the country, and that the fact that power over 16-19 further education is not developed to the North East Combined Authority “limits opportunity to shape the post-16 offer and address gaps in provision”.
Speaking at a meeting of the local authority’s economy, jobs, and skills scrutiny committee, Liberal Democrat councillor Greg Stone said: “There is a need for a dedicated funding stream for the 16 to 19-year-olds falling out of the system, and the long-term social and economic consequences associated with that. This is something that the committee keeps hearing and it may be that we need to address that directly to the mayor and the council leader and MPs to ask what is being done to bridge that gap.
“It is clear to me that there is a challenge here that we are not managing. Even with all of the new devolution money we are not getting to solve this and seeing some major impacts. It may take a while to get there.
“If we are not planning at a regional level to tackle this, that is a missed opportunity in my view.”
Labour councillor Rob Higgins warned that some NEETs “don’t just tend to fall through the cracks in terms of education and skills, they often tend to end up in person or something like that”.
He added that the hollowing out of voluntary sector organisations had badly hurt young people from poorer areas, like Scotswood, limiting local opportunities for them to build skills and confidence.
Mr Beveridge also reported that the New Deal for North East Workers proposed by mayor Kim McGuinness “under-represents” the importance of more basic qualifications, saying that skills shortages for jobs like care assistants, administrators, and labourers risked “stalling growth”.
He added that some employers complain that candidates lack basic skills like composing an email or using a spreadsheet.
Since 2015-16, Newcastle has seen a steep 49% drop in apprenticeship starts, from 3,020 to just 1,540.
