Agenda item

An update report on current Participation and NEET rates

The Committee considered a report of the Director of Education that updated Members on the current Participation and NEET (not in education, employment or training) rates together with a summary on activity during the past 12 months and plans for the future to ensure that Oldham Council and relevant partner agencies, are shaping and influencing opportunities where possible for 16 - 18-year-olds in the Borough.  

The Local Authority continued to fulfil its duties around encouraging, enabling and assisting young people to participate in education or training and tracking those aged 16 and 17 through the commission of the targeted support offer delivered by Positive Steps, this included some dedicated resource for the SEND (EHC plans) and Children Looked After (CLA) cohort.  The commission had been extended for a further year.

The Authority’s approach across partners in Oldham was to ensure that young people could access the advice and support they require; that they have opportunities available and to engage with the young people to hear their voices and respond as best possible.  

The Committee’s report updated Members on current Participation and NEET rates together with a summary on activity planned in the future to ensure that we are shaping and influencing where possible for 16–18-year-olds.  

The latest reported data (December 2022) reports that 93.71%-year 12s were participating in some form of EET, this rate has seen a slight decrease over the past 12 months.  However, the data highlighted the significantly lower rate of participation for the Y13 cohort.  It was highlighted that the current Y13 cohort were the cohort most significantly affected by school closures during the Covid-19 pandemic, and it’s continued effects on our young people was still being felt by these young people.  Concerns about wellbeing, in particular loneliness, dissatisfaction with life, stress, anxiety, boredom and concerns about the future all continue to affect young people and their levels of engagement and motivation.

The Committee was informed that the actual cohort numbers fluctuated month by month across the year, but the average annual cohort number for Y12/13 combined was 6401. 

It was not unusual, Members were advised, to see participation drop in the autumn term and so it was in 2022/23.  The drop was also partly attributable to a new cohort of young people transitioning to a new environment, but the data shows a significant drop in participation for the Y13 cohort who continued to struggle to re-engage following the pandemic and re-adjust to a return to participation in person, some struggling with their mental health.  The Authority has noted a particular issue in the Autumn term where a significant number of Y13 students just did not return to the second year of their course.    The careers advisors working with the NEET cohort work closely to re-engage them in EET or local engagement programmes and it was expected that some positive engagements during January 2023 which would be reflected in the February 2023 data. 

The Connect to Your Future programme funded GMCA provided an additional support offer for these young people.  Teams were able to refer and sign up significant numbers to work with a careers coach or mentor with some excellent outcomes, providing us with evidence that if capacity is available to undertake the work and a young person was willing to engage and take on the practical and emotional support that a mentor can offer, they are able to re-engage in positive activity.

Increasing youth unemployment was an area of concern nationally and locally.  Oldham’s youth unemployment rate was particularly unsatisfactory, and the gap between the NEET rate and youth unemployment required some work to understand the disparity.

Members of the Committee were advised that the societal impact of unemployment was well-documented, as was the negative impact on life chances for the long-term unemployed. Supporting young people to encourage participation in EET and to prevent an increase in 16- to 18-year-olds becoming NEET, was therefore central to our strategies for addressing disadvantage in Oldham and to prevent longer term disengagement and unemployment.  This will continue to be an area of significant focus in our plans and the emerging Work and Skills Partnership will strategically drive this work and Post 16 participation will be a key indicator and work stream.

Resolved:

1.    That the Committee notes the current landscape and experiences of 16 - 18-year old’s which is impacting on their Participation in education, employment or training. 

2.    That a further report, detailing progress on this matter, be submitted to the Committee in approximately 12 months.