Understanding the experiences of NEET young people in Blackpool

A young person here in Blackpool is more than three times likely to be out of work or training than their peers in Manchester. In fact, the risk of being NEET (not in education or employment) here is the highest in the North West, and among the highest in the country.

Blackpool’s place at the sharp end of NEET statistics has caught the government’s attention and, this week, the Social Mobility Commission published a report that brings the experience of the young people into uncomfortable focus.

Rather than simply counting young people as a statistic, researchers spent months talking to those in Blackpool struggling to access work or education. What they found was worrying, but sadly, unsurprising for those of us who live here and see the challenges young people face.

Behind the numbers are 16 to 24-year-olds navigating housing instability, caring responsibilities, health conditions and a local job market that offers a large amount of seasonal, low-paid work with nowhere to go next. Young people told researchers they'd have to leave Blackpool to find real opportunity. As one put it: "if you're going to study computing in Blackpool, you should know you have to move away because there's nothing here".

Researchers found that treating NEET young people as one group misses the point entirely. They identified four distinct groups, each needing something different. Some are managing crises – housing insecurity, caring full-time for a sick relative – and are furthest from any kind of work. Others have qualifications and ambition but are held back by mental or physical health, or by being neurodivergent in a system that wasn't built with them in mind. Some are ready and willing but simply don't know how the system works. And others are close to a job – qualified and motivated, but without access to the right opportunities.

The realities behind our NEET figures, researchers found, are the daily struggles that young people in Blackpool grown up with – ones I see daily as MP. For example, one in five children in Blackpool has been raised in a family claiming disability benefits. 15% of residents here receive PIP or DLA, the highest claimant rate in Lancashire. Nearly one in three children live in income-deprived households. And we have the highest rate of looked-after children in the country – almost three times the national average.

One young person, describing what it was like caring for a brother and an uncle while surviving on Universal Credit, said: "I haven't even got a pair of shoes to my name because when you're on UC your family's got to come first." How is that young person meant to think about college?

Another described managing undiagnosed ADHD, and said: "I know I've got something going on... but I'm still functioning so it's fine."

Functioning, yes. Thriving, no. For me, that’s far from fine.

Careers advice came in for particular criticism from young people, who said schools pushed them towards "safe" academic subjects regardless of their interests, and offered little help once those subjects didn't fit. One young person recalled being told, in effect, that GCSEs they hadn't passed were the only route forward: "I need my GCSEs if I want to do this, I need my GCSEs if I want to do that. Well, what if I just can't?"

Young people separated services that treated them like a number from those that treated them like a person. Jobcentre Plus, they said, pushed them to apply for a quota of jobs each week, with little real help making those applications count. "You just have to apply for a certain amount," one said. "But that's just resulted in me just applying to random things that I know I won't get."

Contrast that with what they said about The Platform, Blackpool Council's employability hub, which the report singles out as a model worth learning from. One young person who'd used it said a worker there had helped them secure work by tailoring their CV and coaching them for interview.

The report is clear about what needs to happen next.

We need local NEET reduction partnerships — employers, local authorities, the DWP, schools, colleges, health providers and voluntary organisations working together, moving away from quota-based job coaching towards tailored, one-to-one support.

We need regional economic growth, stronger employer engagement and infrastructure reform, including better and cheaper transport for young people, so local opportunities actually match their skills.

And we need better national and local data on complex needs, family dynamics and psychosocial resilience, so support reaches young people before they disengage.

For me, it's clear – we need to treat Blackpool's young people as individuals with different needs, not a single statistic to be managed down.