The period after leaving school remains a vulnerable time for many young people in England, especially those facing health challenges or difficult home circumstances, a new report finds. Researchers drawing on the experiences of young people and experts in policy and delivery argue that current support systems emphasise rapid placement in work rather than the sustained, tailored help many need to remain in or return to education and employment.
Continuity is missing where it matters
Young people who experience interruptions to education or employment commonly reported a lack of a single trusted professional to help them through transitions such as starting college, beginning an apprenticeship or moving into paid work. The research highlights that routine supports often end when a pupil leaves an institution, while parents may be unable to replace that coordination.
Participants told researchers that mainstream employment services can feel perfunctory and ill‑matched to their needs. One young person described a short, repetitive jobcentre appointment that provided little practical assistance:
“My experience with the job centre has not been very good. Like, they basically just haven't really offered anything. And I have to travel 45 minutes there and 45 minutes back. The meeting lasts between 5 and 10 minutes every week. So, it's like sometimes I literally just go in there, sit down, they go, ‘How is the job search going? Have you applied to jobs?’ I go, ‘Yes, I applied to this one, this one’... And they go, ‘Okay, bye.’”
Researchers say this reflects a deeper mismatch: services designed around conditionality and rapid exits from benefit do not always address the confidence, practical barriers and co‑ordinated support needed to secure sustainable participation.
- Practical barriers such as travel, housing and caring responsibilities frequently disrupt education and work.
- Service fragmentation means emotional, health and careers support often sit in different systems and are not joined up at transition points.
- Short appointments and target‑driven job support can leave young people feeling unheard and unsupported.
What young people and experts want
The report sets out a series of priorities drawn from young people’s accounts and practitioners’ experience. Central is the call for a single named contact — a trusted adviser — who can coordinate services, help build confidence, and remain involved beyond the point of initial entry into a job or course.
Other themes include tailoring support to individual ambitions rather than focusing solely on immediate labour‑market outcomes; ensuring health and wellbeing services are accessible at transition moments; and addressing practical obstacles such as travel and housing which disproportionately affect those at risk of becoming Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET).
| Common gap | Recommended focus |
|---|---|
| Loss of institutional support at leaving school | Named, continuous adviser to coordinate transitions |
| Services emphasise quick job entry | Support to build confidence and longer‑term goals |
| Separate health, housing and employment systems | Better cross‑agency working and accessible wellbeing support |
Those involved in delivery told the researchers that successful interventions often combine practical help with mentoring, employer engagement and flexible education routes — approaches that require funding and better alignment between providers.
For schools and colleges, the findings underline the importance of planning exit strategies for pupils with additional needs and ensuring follow‑up arrangements are in place. For central and local government, the report reinforces calls to redesign employment support so it is less transactional and more focused on sustained participation.
As the UK seeks to reduce the numbers of young people who fall out of education and work during a formative life stage, the evidence presented points to a straightforward, if politically and operationally demanding, change: invest in continuity.
That investment means resources for named advisers, stronger links between health, housing and employment services, and less emphasis on one‑off job outcomes in favour of long‑term progression. For the young people interviewed, such changes could mean the difference between a short‑lived job or course and a stable route into adult life.
