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Young people not in education, employment or training (NEET)

The Scottish Longitudinal NEET Study (2015) [1] found that young people who are NEET suffer long-lasting and cumulative detrimental effects:

  • NEETs remained disadvantaged in their level of educational attainment 10 and 20 years later. More than one in five of NEET young people in 2001 had no qualifications in 2011, compared with only one in twenty five of non-NEETS.
  • There is a 'scarring effect' on economic activity. In comparison with their non-NEET peers, NEET young people in 2001 were 2.8 times as likely to be unemployed or economically inactive 10 years later. The scarring effect is also evident in the occupational positions that NEET young people take up, if they entered employment. For example, NEET young people in 2001 were 2.5 times as likely as their non-NEET peers to work in a low status occupation in 2011, if they found work.
  • NEET experiences are associated with a higher risk of poor physical health after 10 and 20 years. The risk for the NEET group was 1.6-2.5 times that for the non-NEET group, varying with different health outcomes. NEET experiences are also associated with a higher risk of poor mental health after 10 and 20 years. The risk of depression and anxiety prescription for the NEET group is over 50% higher than that for the non-NEET group.

NEETs in Herefordshire

  • In 2022-23 Herefordshire’s NEET/not known rate was 4.3%, unchanged from the previous year but now lower than the West Midlands (5.2%) and England (5.2%).
  • The number of NEETS and not knowns varies significantly month-on-month, the annual rate data are an average of the figures submitted by to the Department for Education for the months of December, January, February each year.
  • The proportion of young people who are NEET or not known in Herefordshire has fallen recently from a peak of 9.2% in 2019-20.

Figure 1 Proportion of 16-17 year-olds who are NEET or whose activity is not known

Line chart showing the proportion of 16-17 year olds not in education, employment or training, or whose activity is not known in Herefordshire and England 2016/17 to 2022/23.

Image copyright: Office for Health Improvement & Disparities. Public Health Profiles. [Date accessed: 20 November 2023] https://fingertips.phe.org.uk © Crown copyright [2023].

  • Young people living in the most deprived areas of the county are much more likely to be NEET than those in the least deprived.

Figure 2 Young people who are NEET or whose activity is not known by deprivation quintile

Column chart showing a third of 16-17 year olds who are NEET or not known live in the most deprived areas of Herefordshire compared to one in ten in the least deprived.

Data source:  Herefordshire Council

[1] Consequences, risk factors, and geography of young people not in education, employment or training (NEET) - Research Findings, Scottish Government, 26 October 2015.

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