All young people are under a duty to continue participating in education or training until at least their 18th birthday. This applies to all young people born on or after 1 September 1997.
Participation can include:
Local authorities are subject to duties to support all young people to participate. The Education and Skills Act places additional responsibilities on local authorities to promote the participation of all 16 to 18 year old residents and make arrangements to identify those young people who are at risk of not participating.
These complement the existing duties to secure sufficient and suitable education and training provision for all 16 to 19 year olds (and up to 25 for young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabilities) and to encourage, enable and assist them to take part.
In order to support more young people to engage in appropriate and compliant education, employment or training, the council and its partners from across education, training, business and support services have come together to develop a strategy to reduce the number of young people who are NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training). The strategy sets out our plans and vision for all young people and includes a specific action plan to do this, which are both available at the bottom of this page.
Included within the Employment and Skills Strategy were also a number of key priorities and objectives for supporting young people to achieve and progress in education and work, but since its publication the proportion of young people not in education, employment or training (NEET) in Salford has continued to remain well above national and sub-regional averages, with little progress being made to increase participation and attainment in post-16 education and training.
For this reason, we have felt it necessary to produce a comprehensive and detailed strategy that outlines and articulates the actions and approaches we will take to reduce NEET in Salford over the next two years. This strategy covers the 16 and 17 year old as part of the local authority’s statutory responsibility to track and support young people, but also includes the support for 18-24 year olds who are also unemployed, and where there are specific vulnerable groups such as youth offenders, looked after children, those with SEND. A comprehensive action plan accompanies the strategy which will be worked on over the next two years.
Whilst the council will be accountable for the delivery of the strategy, it is important to recognise that reducing NEET and increasing participation in education and training is not just a civic or social duty, but a fundamental requirement that partners and stakeholders from across the public, private and voluntary sectors should agree to collaboratively deliver to achieve a more inclusive and prosperous local economy. The strategy has been considered by the council’s Youth Employment Partnership, which includes internal teams such as Next Step Leaving Care Service, SEN, IYSS and also external partners including Salford City College, University of Salford, GMCA, DWP, local training providers, Skills and Work team and schools.
The strategy has been to the Youth Employment Partnership and Skills and Work Board for consultation and has been signed off by councillor Merry. The strategy was launched 15 April 2019.
For further information please contact sarah.scanlan@salford.gov.uk.
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This page was last updated on 10 October 2019