Photo by Amirhossein Hasani on Unsplash

NEET—prevention is better than cure

By
Nathan Singleton
on
April 27, 2026

It doesn’t seem that long ago that I had to finally retire my baggy jeans. Not because I was following fashion trends, but because no one was selling them anymore. I assumed they might come back into fashion one day but I wasn’t entirely sure I’d still pull the look off if they did. And sure enough, they have.

Fashion trends, like the economy, work in cycles and we are once again facing a NEET crisis. Around fifteen years ago, we saw a similar rise in young people not in education, employment or training, when NEET became one of the defining policy concerns of the time. The focus then was largely on managing the consequences. What feels different now is that we have the opportunity and the evidence to do something more important: prevent it in the first place.

So, this is my plea to government and funders: let’s not repeat the cycle. Let’s take what we’ve learnt and move decisively towards NEET prevention.

In my early days in youth work, the focus was on “consultation” and “participation”, being “young person-led”, and delivering “detached work”. In the mid-2000s, NEET and ASBO became dominant policy shorthand, alongside a growing public conversation about youth opportunity and risk. By the 2010s, there was a stronger recognition that prevention mattered. More holistic approaches began to emerge, and many creative, community-based solutions started to take shape. But over time, funding became more fragmented, and attention shifted again, often towards more immediate concerns such as youth violence and exploitation, which remain critically important today. Now, once again, we find ourselves with rising youth unemployment and increasing numbers of young people identified as NEET. Nearly a million 16-to-24-year olds are currently in that category, the highest level in over a decade. Those figures matter, but they only tell part of the story. Because on the ground, the reality is far more complex.

I hear it from our youth workers every day. One of our team, who also has teenagers of his own, told me:

The mental conditions they’re dealing with are real. They can take over your mind. Just going out into public can be tough. And older generations don’t always understand what young people are going through. Social conditions have been massively shaped by social media.

That really stayed with me. It’s easy to reduce NEET status to a question of motivation or effort. But the reality is layered: mental health pressures, family responsibilities, financial strain, lack of experience, and the constant comparison culture of social media all intersect at once. The labour market hasn’t made things easier. Entry level roles are increasingly limited, expectations are higher, and young people are competing not only locally but globally. In some cases, they are also facing automation and artificial intelligence reshaping the very roles that once provided a first step into work.

Stephen, one of our youth workers and a father himself, put it even more plainly:

There are jobs available, but there are so many barriers: age, experience, caring responsibilities, even pride. Some young people won’t take entry level work because of stigma. DBS checks and family expectations can also get in the way. The work is there, but the route in isn’t straightforward.

And Jenna, who manages our youth team, talks about aspiration in a way that cuts through the numbers:

Young people often want to be influencers now. It looks like quick money and independence, so traditional pathways don’t always feel real or achievable to them.

This isn’t a lack of ambition. It’s a lack of visible, relatable pathways.

Monique, another of our youth workers, explained it like this:

They expect to go from zero to a hundred overnight, like what they see online. Schools focus on grades, not enough on personal development or the realities of building a life and career.

And Itoro, who has mentored young people for years, adds:

A lot of young people don’t understand that resilience is part of life. They haven’t always had role models showing them that progress takes time.

This is where NEET prevention becomes critical. Not as a slogan, and not as a short term intervention, but as a sustained commitment to early support, trusted relationships, and real world exposure to opportunity. It’s about building confidence before crisis. It’s about equipping young people with life skills alongside qualifications. And it’s about ensuring there is someone consistent in their corner when things feel uncertain.
We hope we can learn from history and shift the focus from responding to NEET status to preventing it altogether. When that happens effectively, young people don’t just move into education, employment or training, they begin to see themselves as capable of contributing meaningfully to their communities. The government’s new Youth Guarantee, with its 820 million pound commitment to education, training and employment pathways, is a welcome step. But policy alone is not enough. Sustainable change happens through relationships, through trusted adults, consistent support, and local organisations working with young people over time. Monique puts it well:

Role models and mentors are essential. What really makes the difference is relationships and guidance in local communities.

That is what we see every week. And you can read more about the difference this approach makes in our Case Studies. Because ultimately, helping a young person to avoid becoming NEET isn’t just about finding them a job. It’s about connection, resilience, and hope. It’s about being present, showing care, and giving young people a chance to see what thriving actually looks like. And that’s exactly what we’re committed to at LifeLine Projects: creating communities where young people and families thrive.

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Nathan Singleton

Chief Executive Officer
Nathan is passionate about improving the lives of young people and their families. Nathan draws from the African proverb, “It takes a village to raise a child.” He believes community is the component that is missing in the modern western society and the key component that would benefit young people. Nathan believes we are there, not just to help others but to support them to become agents of change within their communities.
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