Nearly one million young people aged 16 to 24 are currently not in education, employment or training (NEET).
In the recent Young People and Work report, former Secretary of State for Health Alan Milburn illustrated an urgent national crisis, warning that behind the statistics lie “aspirations thwarted, opportunities lost, futures placed on hold.”
The figures are stark. By the end of 2025, 957,000 young people were NEET, at an estimated annual cost of £125 billion to the UK economy. This is more than the country spends on education each year.
But perhaps the most significant finding is who is most at risk.
Young people with SEND are around 80% more likely to become NEET than the national average. Those with Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs) and those who are persistently absent from school are significantly at risk of becoming NEET. Nearly half of all young people who currently meet this category report having a disability, more than double the proportion recorded a decade ago.
For disabled young people, the picture is devastating. In 2024/25, 29.6% of disabled young people were NEET compared with 8.7% of their non-disabled peers.
The challenge is clear: if learners with SEND are disproportionately represented among those leaving education without a pathway into employment, training or further study, then post-16 transition planning must become a much greater priority.
The cliff edge at 16
Much of the conversation around SEND in the UK centres on support from early years to KS4. Yet for many young people with SEND, the greatest risk emerges when they leave the support structures, staff, and services that are provided within compulsory education.
The cliff edge of 16 becomes particularly prevalent for young people receiving SEND Support who do not have an EHCP. Throughout their education, they may have benefited from targeted interventions, adaptive teaching approaches and pastoral support. However, when they reach 16, there is often no equivalent statutory framework ensuring that transition planning continues.
The emergence of Individual Support Plans (ISPs), as set out in the Schools White paper published in February 2026, may well address this gap, but only if transition planning becomes an explicit part of the process. Young people should not lose access to support simply because they do not hold a statutory plan.
Transition planning should begin earlier than Key Stage 4
A significant conclusion from Milburn’s report is that becoming NEET rarely starts at 16.
School disengagement, attendance challenges, poor mental health and unmet needs can often emerge years earlier.
The report notes that children who are not school-ready at age four or five are nearly three times more likely to become NEET at ages 16 and 17.
If nothing else, this indicates the importance of starting transition planning early.
For young people with SEND, particularly those with low incidence, highly complex needs, preparation for adulthood should begin at the start of Key Stage 3 at the latest. This allows time to explore pathways, build confidence, develop skills, and put support in place before age 16.
Preparing for adulthood must be embedded throughout education
Preparation for adulthood must be explicitly embedded within curriculum pathways and adapted according to the needs of individual learners.
Young people with SEND need sustained, structured preparation for adulthood throughout their secondary education, including independent living skills, financial literacy, and employability skills.
Careers guidance needs to improve
The quality of careers guidance available to young people with SEND remains highly variable. This is due to the limited understanding or insufficient availability of the specific pathways available to SEND learners, including Supported Internships and Apprenticeships.
Undoubtedly, there is a need for trained advisors who understand the specific needs and options available to young people with SEND.
Mental health is now central to transition planning
One of the most striking findings from Milburn’s report is the changing profile of young people who are NEET.
In 2025, 44% of NEET young people reported a work-limiting health condition, compared with 26% a decade earlier. Among disabled young people who are NEET, the proportion citing mental health as their primary condition has risen from 24% to more than 42%.
Anxiety, depression, autism and other neurodevelopmental conditions are no longer peripheral issues within the NEET crisis but rather defining characteristics of it.
Early identification of presentations-of-need, interventions designed to target barriers to learning, curriculum changes and trained advisors are essential components of an effective transition planning.
Pathways, not cliff edges
Every young person has something to give: a skill, an aptitude, a potential. No young person should be written off because of where they start in life: the family they are born into, the school they attend, the health condition they have, or the barriers they face.
Alan Milburn, ‘Young People and Work’ Report (2026)
When the right support is embedded in the structure of schools and trusts, more young people with SEND will be able to participate readily in education, training, and employment after the age of 16.
As schools become increasingly under pressure to provide inclusive, high-quality education for pupils with SEND, challenges in staffing, EHCPs, budget constraints, and tailored interventions become even more pronounced.
At Supporting Education Group, we take that pressure off.
Through our SEND & Inclusion Hub, we bring together expertise, services, recruitment, training and sector insight in one place, supporting multi-academy trusts, schools and local authorities to delivery effective strategies at scale.
With SEND Lens, our evaluation tool, you can evaluate your trust SEND strategy. Built for multi-academy trust leaders, it gives you a practical route to improvement.
By providing specialist SEND staff and tutors, we can create bespoke intervention plans that are aligned with EHCP outcomes and the goals of the school. We can equip your teachers and support staff with confidence and tools to deliver inclusive teaching through training and CPD. And we can provide support to improve provision planning, funding allocation and outcomes tracking.
The UK’s NEET challenge cannot be solved through post-16 interventions.
It requires schools and trusts to begin earlier, think longer-term and place preparation for adulthood at the heart of SEND provision.
Explore how to strengthen your SEND provision with SEND Lens.