The proportion of young people who are not in education, employment or training is climbing. ADAM PRINGLE looks at some of the efforts across Shropshire to turn the tide
Shropshire is not immune to the national surge in young people who are not in education, employment or training. In fact, the county’s mix of rural isolation and patchy public transport presents some serious challenges.
And the latest findings from Alan Milburn’s Government‑commissioned review make one thing painfully clear: this is not a blip. It is a structural failure, and unless something changes, the UK could see 1.25 million NEET young people by 2031, up from just over one million today.
Milburn describes a “whole system failure” in which education, health, welfare and employment structures no longer support young people into adulthood. The evidence, he argues, does not point to a single cause but to a system “stuck in the past”, one that leaves too many young people detached from work and learning at the very moment they should be taking their first steps into independence.
For Shropshire employers, this raises a difficult but unavoidable question: if the system is failing, what role can local businesses play in fixing it? The answer, increasingly, is that they must play a central one – not out of charity, but out of necessity.
A shrinking labour pool threatens productivity, growth and the long‑term health of the local economy. And while national reform is essential, the most promising solutions emerging right now are local, collaborative and rooted in the realities of Shropshire’s communities.
For example, Telford College has led a successful bid to create one of the UK’s new Youth Employment Hubs. Over the next 12 months, more than 300 young people aged 16 to 24 will be supported into work, training or education through a partnership between the college, Telford & Wrekin Council and supported employment charity Landau.
The timing could not be better. Milburn’s review warns that Britain risks a 25% rise in the number of young people not in work or education, potentially reaching 1.25 million by the early 2030s without decisive action. He calls the current situation a “catastrophic systems failure” and urges an overhaul of education, health, welfare and the jobs market to prevent a “lost generation”.
Sarah Davies, Telford College’s executive director of partnerships and employer engagement, says the hub is exactly the kind of targeted, practical intervention the review demands. She describes it as a place designed to break down barriers, rebuild confidence and give young people a clear route into sustained employment or further learning. Participants will receive intensive one‑to‑one support, access to accredited training in English, maths and digital skills, employer‑led events, work experience and mock interviews. “When you give young people the right support at the right time, it changes lives,” she says – a sentiment echoed across the county.
The hub builds on the college’s ‘Into Employment’ programmes which have supported 821 learners in 2024/25, with 309 progressing into jobs across logistics, construction, health and social care, and digital. The new hub will extend that reach further, with a town‑centre base and targeted outreach in rural areas such as TF1 and TF7, using a mobile teaching unit to ensure young people across the borough have equal access to support.
Six employer engagement events will run across the year, including job fairs, sector insight sessions and apprenticeship events delivered in collaboration with the DWP.
Local leaders are clear about the stakes. Councillor Shirley Reynolds, cabinet member for children, young people, education, employment and skills at Telford & Wrekin Council, says the hub strengthens an already “strong offer” for young people, complementing initiatives such as the Telford Job Box, the borough’s Skills Strategy and the Stay Near, Go Far campaign.
But while the hub is seen as a major step forward, it sits within a much wider landscape of challenges. Nationally, more than one million 16–24‑year‑olds are now NEET – the highest level in over a decade. The economic cost is estimated at £125 billion a year which, to put things in context, is more than the UK currently spends on education.
Milburn’s report highlights several drivers: the collapse of entry‑level jobs, a dramatic fall in apprenticeship starts for young people, rising ill health and anxiety, the emergence of a “bedroom generation” shaped by social media and post‑Covid isolation, and a fragmented system in which schools, colleges, the NHS, welfare agencies and employers operate in silos.
Perhaps most strikingly, six in ten NEET young people have never had a job, up from four in ten two decades ago. Yet 84% say they want a job or training. The issue is not willingness – it is access, confidence and support.
Shropshire’s geography compounds these pressures. For an 18‑year‑old living in a village with one bus a day, struggling with anxiety and unsure how to navigate job applications, the leap into work can feel impossibly wide. Employers across the county report difficulty filling vacancies in hospitality, manufacturing, logistics and care, even as thousands of young people remain disconnected from the labour market. The mismatch is stark, and it is growing.
This is why youth services are becoming an increasingly important part of the conversation. All About Youth, the first and only youth organisation in the Midlands to achieve the National Youth Agency Quality Mark, says youth work can play a vital role in preparing young people for employment. The charity, which supports young people across Shropshire and Telford & Wrekin, argues that youth clubs are often misunderstood as purely social spaces.
In reality, they are places where young people develop confidence, communication skills, teamwork, resilience and independence – qualities employers consistently say they struggle to find.
Chief executive Richard Parkes describes youth work as a bridge between enjoyment and employment. Through sports, creative activities, volunteering, group projects and leadership roles, young people discover what they enjoy, what they are good at and what they might want to do in the future.
Initiatives such as the Youth Forum and Youth Parliament give them experience in leadership, communication and decision‑making, while trusted youth workers help build aspirations and self‑belief, particularly for those who feel disconnected from education or unsure about their future.
Richard says the journey into employment often begins with something simple: feeling safe, feeling valued and feeling part of something. He argues that if the UK is serious about tackling youth unemployment, investment in youth services must be part of the solution.
Another area where Shropshire is taking a proactive stance is neurodiversity. Employers across the county have been urged to rethink traditional recruitment practices to unlock a wealth of untapped neurodivergent talent.
At a roundtable organised by Shropshire Chamber of Commerce and hosted by supported employment service Enable, delegates heard that fewer than a third of autistic adults are currently in employment.
They discussed the need for earlier intervention, clearer pathways and better‑informed support systems, as well as the persistent misconceptions that individuals with learning difficulties are “hard work”.
Plans are now underway to develop a centralised directory of support organisations across Shropshire, helping businesses understand what help is available and how to access it.
Shropshire Chamber chief executive Ruth Ross says the Chamber is playing a pivotal role as a bridge between employers, support services and jobseekers. She describes the session as “frank, honest and productive”, highlighting that the issue is not a lack of willingness among employers but a lack of awareness, confidence and connection.
With better alignment between support systems and employers, she argues, there is a significant opportunity to unlock talent while delivering both social and economic value.
Shrewsbury MP Julia Buckley echoes this, saying that small adjustments can open up pathways into employment and she urged local businesses to sign the Chamber’s Mental Health Charter to help build more supportive and inclusive workplaces.
Taken together, these efforts – the Youth Employment Hub, the work of All About Youth, the push for neurodiversity‑friendly recruitment – represent a growing movement across Shropshire to confront the NEET crisis head‑on.
They are not silver bullets, but they are practical, grounded and rooted in local knowledge. They recognise that young people need more than qualifications; they need confidence, connection, opportunity and a system that does not leave them to navigate the transition into adulthood alone.
Milburn has called for a national movement to galvanise communities around this issue. Shropshire, in many ways, is already building one. The challenge now is scale. Employers must rebuild the first rung of the career ladder by creating genuine entry‑level roles with built‑in training and fewer unnecessary barriers.
They must work with colleges on outcomes, not just placements, helping shape curriculum content and offering real‑world projects that lead to real‑world jobs. Recruitment processes must become more human, with informal conversations replacing automated filters that shut out inexperienced applicants before they have a chance to be seen.
And workplaces must become more supportive, with mentors, gradual onboarding and mental health‑aware practices that help young people thrive rather than withdraw.
The NEET crisis is deep, structural and urgent. But across Shropshire, the beginnings of a solution are taking shape – in youth clubs, in college classrooms, in employer roundtables and in the quiet, determined work of people who refuse to accept that a generation should be written off.
The question now is whether enough employers, educators and policymakers will join them.
