What is a Neet and what causes a young person to become one?

In the November Budget, Chancellor Rachel Reeves is expected to give more details on how the government is planning to tackle the rising number of young people not in education, employment and training – also known as Neets.

But with one in eight people aged 16 to 24 in the UK now believed to be Neet, what does it mean to be one? And what is being done to bring the number of Neets down?

The term Neet refers to someone who is “not in education, employment or training”.

A young person is considered Neet if they are:

• Unemployed – looking for work
• Economically inactive – not actively looking for work and not waiting to start a job or caring for family

A young person is not Neet if they are in formal education, such as school or university, doing an apprenticeship or vocational course, or in full-time or part-time work.

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) releases quarterly figures on how many young people are considered Neet in the UK over a period of three months.

The ONS produces its estimates from its Labour Force Survey. The survey has seen fewer people respond in recent years, which makes the results more volatile than they were previously.

In the latest stats, covering the period from April to June 2025, there were 948,000 young people who were Neet in the UK. That’s equivalent to 12.8% of all people aged 16 to 24.

Most Neets fall under the economically inactive category. There was an estimated 583,000 economically inactive Neets from April to June 2025 – an increase of 14,000 on the January to March period.

The overall number of Neets tends to fluctuate throughout the year. The figure for April to June was higher than the January to March number of 923,000, but lower than the 11-year high of 987,000 recorded between October and December 2024.

The number of Neets was at its highest over 10 years ago, in July to September 2011, when the number peaked at over a million following the 2008 financial crisis.

Historically, more women than men have been Neet, but in recent years that trend has reversed, with young men more likely than young women to be Neet, according to the ONS figures.

Research by the government into 16 and 17-year-old Neets also found that white people are more likely to be Neet than people of other ethnicities in the 16-17 age group.

Outside of this age group, however, the Youth Future Foundation found that Black, Black Caribbean and Black African young people had a higher Neet rate than the UK average.

Further analysis by the foundation showed significant regional variation too, with young people in the North East and East of England more likely to be Neet than those living elsewhere.

Qualification levels are also a factor in how likely someone is to be Neet. Recent research by the charity Impetus found that young people with fewer qualifications (fewer than five GCSEs by age 18) were more likely be Neet.

A 2024 report by the Youth Future Foundation showed that the more of these barriers a young person faced, the more likely they were to be Neet.

There are many factors and life circumstances that could contribute to a young person becoming Neet.

A rise in long-term sickness among young people has been one of the main causes of economic inactivity over the past three years, according to analysis by the Youth Future Foundation.

Figures from the Department for Education (DfE) showed that over half of those who were Neet in England in 2024 had a health condition.

DfE data also suggests that over 10% of young people who are Neet also have learning difficulties.

Mental health is an increasing factor too, with around one in five young people (18%) who were Neet in 2024 having a mental health condition.

The jobs market is also a challenge for young people, with 2025 figures showing a falling number of vacancies and fewer people on payrolls.

Analysis published in August 2025 suggested that more than half of jobs lost since the previous Budget had been in the hospitality sector – a sector which traditionally employs a disproportionately high number of people aged 16 to 24.

Low pay and lack of availability has previously been an issue for young people finding apprenticeships, while some graduates have also experienced difficulty finding work after university too.

In her speech at the Labour Party Conference in 2025, Rachel Reeves promised “nothing less than the abolition of long-term youth unemployment”.

In November 2024, the government had announced a “youth guarantee” – a pledge to provide anyone aged 18 to 21 in England with access to an apprenticeship, training, education opportunities or help to find a job

And those who have been Neet for more than 18 months will also be given a paid work placement, with those who refuse to take up the offer potentially being stripped off their benefits.

The aim of the placement is to help build up skills towards a full-time job, the government says, and will build on existing employment support and work placements delivered by the Department for Work and Pensions.

But the idea has been criticised, with disability charity Scope calling for the government to tackle the “real barriers” young disabled people face in finding work before removing “financial safety nets”.

The government also announced at the 2025 conference a new target for two thirds of under-25s to be in higher education, college, or doing an apprenticeship after leaving school.

Across the UK, other governments are taking different approaches.

In Wales, the Young Person’s Guarantee was introduced in 2021 to provide support for 16 to 24-year-olds to choose the right course, find an apprenticeship, search for jobs or start a businesses.

In Scotland, a scheme by the same name was announced in the wake of the Covid pandemic to connect young people with appropriate opportunities such as apprenticeships, work experience or formal volunteering.

And in Northern Ireland, there are a range of schemes aimed at helping people who are Neet.