Young Britons face wildly different prospects depending on home town

Young people face wildly different prospects depending on their home town, with up to one in four out of school, work or training in some UK cities, a study has suggested.

Children from deprived areas urgently need the right support

A new report reveals the nation’s Neet (not in education, employment or training) “blackspots”, and suggests youngsters living in the north are more likely to suffer from fewer opportunities.

Time spent as a Neet can damage youngsters’ work skills, make them more likely to turn to crime, leave them facing lower wages in the future, and reduce life expectancy, according to a paper by the Work Foundation for the Private Equity Foundation.

Just under an estimated one million 16- to 24-year-olds (979,000 in total) are considered Neet, according to official figures published in August. Of these, around 186,000 are aged 16-18.

But less is known about where these young people live, the study said.

Using existing figures on the labour market, it analysed Neet levels among 16- to 24-year-olds in 53 of the largest towns and cities in Great Britain.

The findings showed that cities and towns in the area from Liverpool across to Hull were more likely to have high or very high Neet levels.

In comparison, those with low or very low Neet levels were more likely to be further south.

Grimsby, Doncaster, Warrington and Wigan were all found to have very high Neet levels of almost 25 per cent.

Others, such as Blackpool, and Rochdale and Oldham, were likely to have more than one in five (20 per cent) youngsters that were Neet.

At the other end of the scale, Oxford, Aberdeen, York, Plymouth and Cambridge all had very low Neet levels of less than 10 per cent.

Separate figures for London, which were not broken down by borough, showed that the north east of London had very high Neet levels of more than 20 per cent, while in east London, between 18 per cent to 20 per cent of youngsters were Neet.

The southwest of London was found to have the lowest levels, of less than 14 per cent.

The report warned that a failure to address the Neet problem would not just damage individuals, but lead to growing costs for “the government, our economy and society”.

Cities with high Neet levels tended to have “wider problems, with weak economies, low skills profiles and often dependent on the public sector for employment”, the study said.

And the recession had widened the gap between cities with high Neet rates and those that were lower.

“The government urgently needs to consider the problems faced by young people in many of our towns and cities,” it said.

“Neets in these cities face a double hit: reduced employment opportunities and a weak economy and reduced services resulting from public sector cuts.”

Shaks Ghosh, chief executive of the Private Equity Foundation, said: “This report has highlighted the great disparity in opportunities for young people across Great Britain.

“The fact that nearly a quarter of 16- to 24-year-olds are disengaged from education or employment in certain cities is not only shocking but very sad.

“Children from deprived areas urgently need the right support to continue in school, go to college or to get a job.

“To neglect these Neets, risks a crisis in too many of our communities.”

Factbox

Highest Neet levels:
1. Grimsby: Very high (almost 25 per cent)
2. Doncaster: Very high (almost 25 per cent)
3. Warrington & Wigan: Very high (almost 25 per cent)
4. Blackpool: High (around 20 per cent)
5. Rochdale & Oldham: High (around 20 per cent)
6. Wirral & Ellesmere Port: High (around 20 per cent)
7. Birmingham: High (around 20 per cent)
8. Barnsley: High (around 20 per cent)
9. Swansea: High (around 20 per cent)
10. Newcastle: High (around 20 per cent)

Lowest Neet levels:
1. Oxford: Very low (less than 10 per cent)
2. Aberdeen: Very low (less than 10 per cent)
3. York: Very low (less than 10 per cent)
4. Plymouth: Very low (less than 10 per cent)
5. Cambridge: Very low (less than 10 per cent)
6. Guildford: Low (around 10 per cent)
7. Bristol: Low (around 10 per cent)
8. Luton & Watford: Low (around 10 per cent)
9. Southampton: Low (around 10 per cent)
10. Milton Keynes: Low (around 10 per cent)