LGA response: Milburn Youth and Work Call for Evidence, 30 January 2026

What is stopping more young people from participating in education, employment and training? 

Young people are disengaged from education, training and employment for multiple, often interrelated, reasons. Councils are unique in their ability to convene partners locally to address individual needs of young people informed by the context of place. The institutional complexity and distance of Whitehall from the realities of delivery create a top-down system which fails to grip the immediacy of the challenge.

What would make the biggest difference to support more young people to participate? 

Local government should lead the creation of a dedicated place-based Youth Pathways Service (YPS) across England as recommended in Work Local to improve the local employment and skills offer. It will connect 16- to 24-year-olds at risk of, or who are, not in education, employment and training with jobs, learning and support they need locally, and bring in expertise of a range of partners. While YPS is being put in place, all elements of the Youth Guarantee and wage subsidy should be brought together, co-designed with, and routed through, local government and be available to all areas now.

Young people with disrupted backgrounds (care experienced, mental health, substance misuse, youth offending, poverty, caring responsibilities, interrupted education, low attainment) are vulnerable from being out of education, employment and training for complex reasons. Councils are unique in their ability to convene partners yet have limited ability for integrated provision to address this. For all groups, not being in education, employment and training can have a lasting impact on life chances from being trapped in low-paid, insecure jobs reducing financial independence to higher risks of involvement with the criminal justice system. Councils, as corporate parents for care experienced young people, provide wide ranging support including Cornwall Council’s offer and Suffolk Council’s Family Business model and the LGA’s Step-Ahead campaign providing tools to support the sector.

Reduced access to local youth services

Reductions to council budgets led to council youth services expenditure falling by 73 per cent in England between 2010/11 and 2023/24. Many youth clubs providing free after-school workshops and activities and access to youth workers closed. Analysis by IfS found a third of London’s youth centres closed between 2010 and 2019, and children from lower socio-economic backgrounds that lost access to a nearby centre performed nearly 12 percent worse in exams at age 16. A patchwork of youth services is now reliant on short term funding. Youth transformation pilots and young futures hubs by the end of the decade announced in the national youth strategy (2024) are not available everywhere.

Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND)

The system is failing too many young people with SEND and is in need of urgent and fundamental reform. Impetus (2025) found 80 per cent are more likely to be out of education, employment and training compared to their peers. While schemes like Suffolk Council’s Skills Academy build resilience, practical life skills squeezed out of academic compulsory education and a focus on maths and English into post 16, have a negative impact on SEND learners. They face a ‘cliff edge’ as support services drop off when transitioning to adulthood, leaving them to navigate complex systems and access employment alone.

Lack of sufficient and appropriate post-16 education and training provision

Alongside an academic focused pre-16 education system, there is a lack of sufficient and appropriate post 16 education and training provision. Councils have statutory duties to provide sufficient education and training places for 16- and 17-year-olds (up to 25 for those with an EHC plan) through Raising Participation Age (RPA) legislation and the ‘September Guarantee’. They also identify and track young people at risk of, or who are not in education, employment and training. They see the following issues.

• Demand for post 16 places outstrips supply in pure numbers. Increases in 16-18 cohort sizes lead to increased class sizes and pressure on the whole system – provision, support, and tracking. Where there are insufficient numbers of places, they work with FE partners to apply to DfE to create more ‘study programmes’ through ‘Gaps in Provision’ but the process is lengthy and rarely results in additional funding.
• A broader range of post 16 settings is needed. Growth in pre-16 home education means young people may not be ready for a college setting. While colleges are doing all they can, there is a lack of capacity, physical space and staffing in post 16 settings. Many councils feel more Independent Training Providers (ITPs) should be part of the solution, but DfE is reluctant to expand the provider base.
• The breadth of post 16 options is lacking. More entry, Levels 1 and 2 provision and new Vocational Levels are vital to progression, while BTECs are phased out.
• Young people need flexible in-year starts, yet provision is for a September start. If a young person stops attending, there is no option for alternative in-year provision.

Careers advice and guidance

Careers Hubs (hosted, co-funded and supported by councils and mayors) are well placed to promote careers education. The Government’s two-week ambition for work experience (Years 7–11) is ambitious and while good work is happening such as East Sussex Council’s traded model being adopted by 93 percent of schools which includes employer engagement, health and safety and safeguarding checks on placements, and Bristol Council works with schools and regional Careers Hub to support over 200 employers who provide over 6000 experiences of work to young people at risk of becoming NEET, more resource is required to strengthen local employer engagement especially in areas with high numbers of SMEs.

Councils’ tracking duties rely on timely data shared by schools/FE community

Using data is key to understanding what makes a difference to a young person's journey into adulthood. Councils understand the story of a young person up to 18 (where their duty ends for most young people) through various datasets but there is a gap when a young person moves beyond compulsory education age. Through the Community Mission Challenge, Sheffield Council is working with the Sheffield Policy Campus to bridge this information gap by integrating locally held intelligence with national longitudinal datasets from DWP and HMRC. The aim is to join up data for 16–24‑year‑olds to build a clearer, shared understanding of the transition into work to enable stronger policy decisions across government.

Changes in health trends (mental health and neuro-developmental conditions)

Young people experiencing Social, Emotional and Mental Health Difficulties (SEMH) can range from low level emotional health and wellbeing issues (e.g. academic pressure, social media, COVID-19 impact) to diagnosed conditions. This is increasing and compounded by long Child and Adolescent Mental Health Services (CAHMS) waiting lists. This impacts their ability to engage and participate in education, employment and training, many of whom are not considering large FE settings.

Changing labour market and work

Employers are vital to creating a steady supply of available and pipeline jobs. Many councils report too few openings. Entry-level roles and ‘Saturday jobs’ are already impacted by automation, and demand prior experience, and there is more competition for apprenticeships. An ageing workforce in manufacturing and construction mean pathways for future generations are vital. Anticipating around 12,000 more jobs in construction across the city, Salford Council sought funding through social value and construction companies to refurbish an old council building into a construction centre, using UKSPF for training budgets. Many young people want to get into employment, even if temporary, low‑paid or irregular, to earn an income to contribute to household bills. Seasonal and insecure work also reduce incentives for young people to pursue training. LPC advice to Government on 2026 minimum wage rates states that there is insufficient evidence that youth rate increases have materially reduced youth employment overall. However, IFS analysis suggests increases in minimum wage and national insurance will reduce employers’ capacity and capability to recruit. Furthermore, some of the LGA’s members, drawing on their connection to local businesses, have started to raise concerns regarding the impact of the youth rate of the minimum wage on rates of youth employment.

Lack of re-engagement support fuelling youth unemployment

• There is no funding for community-based re-engagement, stepping stone or wrap-around provision for young people without confidence to access mainstream FE/college courses. Support is needed for functional skills, personal and social development and employability skills, and vocational qualifications e.g. Construction Skills Certification Scheme (CSCS) cards. This was funded by European Social Fund (ESF) on a significant scale, and no successor funding has since equated.
• The amount spent on employment and skills from UKSPF was c.£260 million - a cross Government localised fund for 2023-2025. It ends in two months. We are very concerned the Government did not provide direct successor revenue funding in last Autumn’s Budget. While this impacts all areas, places outside mayoral areas, including combined county areas, have limited flexibility / additional resource to absorb the loss. This is driving live decisions on scaling back or closing services, and will accelerate over the next few months, impacting areas’ ability to re-engage young people. Examples: Devon - closure or severe scaling back of almost all socio economic (and economic development) activity outside urban areas including eight Employment Hubs, working with young people and individuals with complex need, which helped 340 people into work, 191 stay in work and 345 people improve their employability; Blackpool - opened The Platform, a careers, advice and guidance service for all 16-24 year olds in 2022. It helped 1,739 young people access support, of which 616 moved into paid employment, with 434 accessing education or training. 40 percent of individuals came from wards with the highest unemployment rates. Cornwall - People Hub (PH) since 2020 has supported over 1,600 residents aged over 16 move towards employment, many of whom are often not eligible or suitable for other schemes. It provides triage to identify people’s needs / goals, then refers them to the most suitable support including voluntary organisations. A youth focused YEP! project works alongside it. Worcestershire and its districts used their 2025/26 allocation to help 16-24 year olds into employment or education. It match funded two youth hubs (Worcester and Redditch) and a wider county service delivered through partner organisations. Since the 2025 financial year, it helped 1100 young people, supported 475 of them into employment, 112 of which into apprenticeships. The end of UKSPF comes at a time when the county finds youth unemployment moving to 5.4 percent with some districts over 8 percent.
• Youth Hubs. DWP established these post-pandemic, recognising a jobcentre setting was not working for young jobseekers on Universal Credit. It relied on councils (and others – colleges, charities) to find suitable spaces and co-fund the offer. DWP has committed to roll these out across the country within three years. Councils tell us they work well for the client group, but if they were more flexible and better connected into the local landscape, could support locally successful UKSPF funded services at risk of closure like Blackpool Council’s The Platform, but in Worcestershire Council where they are co-funded with UKSPF, it leaves services at risk. Age restrictions are also an issue and DWP funds are restricted to JCP Work Coaches, while Flexible Support Fund cannot fund premises or overheads. Investment and flexibility are needed or roll out will be dependent on whether an area can source more funds.

Barriers

As our report found, the availability and cost of local transport is a major barrier to participating in learning or work, significantly affecting young people from low-income households, particularly - but not exclusively – in rural and coastal areas which means relying on private transport. Gaps in transport provision across rural England are stark in DfT’s Connectivity Tool, while Transport East’s Young People’s Journeys report found 70 percent said transport made them late to education or an apprenticeship. This is why areas like Cornwall Council offer a broad range of financial support from driving lessons, council tax relief and setting up a home. Other barriers include digital exclusion and poor connectivity particularly; high living costs, housing insecurity; and family pressures (including having to engage

Our key recommendation. Local government – strategic authorities and their constituent councils in devolved areas, as well as councils outside devolution – are trusted conveners with access to schools, further and higher education, independent training providers, job centres, ICBs, employers and the voluntary and community sector. They know what is holding young people back. As such they are critical partners for national government and uniquely trusted to work with partners and employers to prevent and reduce the number of young people not in education, employment and training. Individual services and duties should be joined up to be greater than the sum of their parts.

This is why we recommend the creation of an integrated, place-based, Youth Pathways Service (YPS) in every local area, which joins up support for all 16- to 24-year-old young people at risk of, or who are not in education, employment or training. It would offer guaranteed support into their first job and put them on a career path by connecting them to local jobs, learning and support, and draw in expertise from a range of partners. Local government would plan and commission this. The foundations for local government to deliver this are already in place:

• Integrated Careers Hubs into local government structures from LEPs
• range of statutory duties for 16-24 year olds education and training
• joint planning and delivery of Youth Hubs with DWP including a digital offer
• working with and funding local voluntary organisations providing youth services
• specialist support for SEND, and vulnerable young people (care experienced, youth offending etc) that is either directly delivered or commissioned
• work with local health services to tackle rising mental health problems
• corporate parents to care leavers and those still in care.

As YPS would support young people in receipt of Universal Credit, the service would replace all DWP employment provision for this group, but with benefits administration retained by DWP. A key partner will be Jobcentre Plus (Jobs and Careers Service) resource and expertise, including staff for youth employability, youth hubs and family advice. A ‘duty to co-operate’ would be in place to bring all relevant partners together.

Whilst planned and commissioned by local government, YPS will be guided by a national offer to young people that will set standards. Examples of provision are:

• in-depth assessment leading to a personal job and skills plan leading to training, a job, volunteering, and other opportunities
• development and promotion of Apprenticeship pathways for young people, especially for vulnerable and under-represented groups
• access to Further Education courses (including competencies and qualifications in English and Maths) and support whilst on a course
• responsibility for developing a coherent place-based careers advice offer
• co-ordinate and develop support for young people at risk of disengaging
• linked to specialist support for SEND young people
• referral to appropriate mental health provision and work with Mental Health Teams
• a local service for information advice and guidance, in partnership with jobcentres, employers and higher education to set ambition for young people
• promoting to employers and young people the benefits of work experience, internship, and traineeship opportunities
• initiatives to provide a stable living environment and prevent homelessness.

It would guarantee every young person at risk of, or who are not in education, employment or training: 1) advice and support with an in-depth assessment and a personal plan; 2) suitable work experience with an employer and active job search support; and 3) training to a suitable qualification (even if on Universal Credit) to improve their career aspirations.

YPS is one of three recommendations put forward in LGA’s 2024 Work Local offer to a new Government. It would be planned by three-year outcome-focused local employment and skills agreements. The other two offers include: Working Futures (helping adults that need to secure and progress in work, with Connect to Work as the building block); and Skills for All (addressing local skills supply and demand issues, and supporting local employers with their skills needs). The LGA will harness the expertise of local government across England to work in partnership with Government to design this.

While we plan YPS, immediate recommendations are below

A place-based Youth Guarantee 

While YPS is being put in place, all elements of the Youth Guarantee and wage subsidy should be brought together, co-designed with, and routed through, local government and be available to all areas now. Youth unemployment is a national emergency affecting all places now. While we firmly back devolution as a mechanism to give mayors and leaders of constituent councils the tools to affect change, it will take time to mature and have coverage across England. As we have said, the LGA’s Youth Pathways sets a blueprint for design and delivery. Local government has a wealth of expertise delivering wage subsidy schemes. Learning what works, including the added value of a local coordinator to marshal the local SME community, and how through local reach, they leveraged additional funding and support to help employers keep young people on beyond the six-month Kickstart scheme.
Milburn review on youth and work

Invest in local re-engagement services to prevent youth unemployment rising

• An urgent cross Government solution is needed to replace the c.£260 million spent on employment and skills from UKSPF which ends in two months. This gap is stark for areas outside mayoral authorities, who have no alternative funding options. We recommended a Local Labour Market Fund (LLMF) combine support for local employability, skills, and health initiatives is funded through previously announced Pathways to Work funding (March 2025) for 2026/27 and 2027/28.
• Compounding UKSPF is a reduction in Skills Bootcamps and Adult Skills Fund for people over 19. Demand for Skills Bootcamps is high, providing training with a clear line of sight to a job with a guaranteed interview within months.
• Local Get Britain Working plans, led by local government across England, already identify challenges, needs and solutions to support young people into positive destinations. These should evolve into a commissioning tool for future employment, skills and re-engagement funds so funding is more coherent, long term and linked to local priorities.
• Speed up the roll-out of flexible, local Youth Hubs and open up access for 16–18-year-olds. Youth Hubs should be flexible allowing local partners to adapt the model to local need, be multi-agency, have careers guidance embedded, enable access at 16 to allow preventative work to stop the flow of young people being disengaged for two years before receiving support. Councils are well placed to convene DWP, DfE, colleges and the voluntary and community sector to design more flexible, genuinely multi-agency Youth Hubs. Suffolk Council’s MYGO, supported 16-24 year olds from long term unemployed to graduates, and offers valuable lessons on how this can be achieved. Other services – Connect to Work, Work Well – should also be opened to 16–18-year-olds requiring shared outcomes and accountability across Whitehall.
• Alongside youth hubs, there are a range of other hubs – youth futures hubs, family hubs, neighbourhood health hubs, Best Start Family Hubs. While they are designed for specific needs, coordination is key across Whitehall. Councils like Hillingdon are joining up the dots so residents get joined up services – a ‘no wrong door approach’.

The Schools White Paper should increase the breadth of pathways at 14

On young people with SEND, the LGA and County Councils Network proposed a dedicated Destinations and Progression Service in every local area to coordinate preparation into adulthood leading up to and in the two years after the age of transition. It would provide a first port-of-call for advice for young people, drawing together intelligence on local need to commission the right opportunities and support, and track long-term destinations.

The 16-19 landscape

To address the lack of sufficient and appropriate provision noted earlier, councils recommend:

• a more transparent, speedier DfE Gaps Analysis process to apply for additional funding to meet increased demand for places;
• expansion of entry, Levels 1 and 2 provision for those needing extra support;
• a broader mix of providers – colleges, ITPs, and grassroots organisations, with funding rates reflecting higher costs for smaller settings;
• re-engagement provision to support Year 11s transition to Post 16 funded from the mainstream FE offer; and
• in rural areas, more local delivery could include micro‑campuses, mobile learning hubs, and outreach skills centres.

Councils’ post 16 statutory duties should be strengthened to get the local offer right. 

To fully discharge their duty, they need a closer relationship with the local FE community. For colleges, for instance, this could include understanding how the number of places translate into curriculum plans, exploring more flexible enrolment processes so students can join courses mid‑year supported by short transition courses, and more effective tracking on post 19 outcomes. A multi-year place-based approach to post 16 FE provision and capital investment would help as well as learning from models such as the West Yorkshire Further Education Compact. The LGA is working constructively with DfE, councils and strategic authorities to work through statutory duties reforms set out in the Skills White Paper (2025). DfE reforms should strengthen, rather than dilute, councils’ post 16 statutory duties, and any new roles for Strategic Authorities should complement this, enabling local government to work collaboratively with DfE and the FE community to boost participation rates.

Targeted support is needed to identify young people most at risk of disengaging early

East Sussex Council Steps to Success, provides one-to-one careers coaching to at risk Year 10-11 pupils. 94 percent progressed into sustained destinations. Despite a growing youth population, Bradford Council reduced the number of 16-18 year olds not in education, employment and training to 4.1 per cent, improving outcomes for its most vulnerable groups, through a combination of a new tool to early identify risk of disengagement, increasing outreach (council’s call centre, ‘door-knocking’ etc), linking the council’s CEIAG traded service, plus support through SkillsHouse, (the council’s all age careers and employment service, supported through West Yorkshire Combined Authority’s Employment West Yorkshire). Barnsley Council has a targeted advice service for young people not in education, employment and training, plus specific groups (EHCP, in care / care leaver, working with youth offending). Bristol Council’s Think Family Database helps professionals predict young people at risk of disengaging from learning using data on attendance, attainment, and vulnerability to provide timely interventions e.g. mentoring and referrals to the Post-16 Team. Its broader youth engagement offer includes work experience, coaching, and skills development for young people aged 11 to 21, supported by the West of England Combined Authority.

Employers

• All Government contractors delivering large infrastructure investment in a 'place' – such as a multi-million-pound DfT road building programme – should be required to engage councils and SAs early on to build in social value and unlock local employment opportunities. With early engagement and the right resources, they could influence workforce recruitment plans of developers and their supply chains and build training pathways for young people. To tap into jobs at Sizewell C, Suffolk Council supports a regional skills coordination function, a Sizewell C jobs service, an employment outreach fund, a set of funded bursaries, as well as icanbea to turn around the perception you have to leave the county for good jobs.
• Lots of work is being done through councils and local employers to inspire young people about from the breadth and depth of careers across local growth sectors. Examples include Buckinghamshire Council’s Buckinghamshire Business First showcasing a range of job roles across local growth sectors including Pinewood, and Sheffield Council's See it Be it in Sheffield campaign which brings to life the world of work for young people, helps raise aspiration and improve life chances.
• Incentivise businesses. An Edge report shows for some young people, Raising Participation Age (RPA) can be a blocker for those who just want to work but low levels of educational attainment can lead to lower wages and a greater risk of unemployment. The Government should work with employers to understand the incentives and support they need e.g. for 16-18 year olds, or targeted groups up to 25 e.g. care experienced young people, to open up entry-level roles and apprenticeships. For young people with physical and mental health challenges, supported internships could be expanded; we note the Access to Work review.
• If apprenticeships are to accelerate social mobility, greater flexibility is needed on how it can be spent including on pre-apprenticeship training. As Government develops new routes (foundation, units / short courses and a fully funded offer to SMEs), councils can use Growth Hubs and Apprenticeship Hubs to provide insight into how these could best land locally and promote and engage local employers. The announcement to reduce the window for how long councils as Levy payers can spend their allocations from 24 to 12-months is disappointing.
• Councils are engaging local employers to identify job roles for Connect to Work and match participants into them. With different agencies vying for employers’ attention, a coordinated place-based approach is vital. As the Government Youth Guarantee wage subsidy scheme rolls out later this year, it should be routed through local government so employers are not overwhelmed with multiple offers.
• As part of the LGA’s Work Local offer, we recommend Skills for All. Many local employers struggle to navigate multiple national training schemes with differing rules and incentives. With the right resources and powers, councils and SAs would address this by creating an employer-facing single local 'front door', to access workforce and skills analysis, brokerage to recruit new talent (including through the Youth Pathways Service), support to upskill existing staff, and coordinated use of apprenticeships, bootcamps and other programmes informed by Local Skills Improvement Plans. Dedicated outreach teams would engage businesses directly.

Overcoming barriers

With devolved, flexible, and sufficient transport funding, local government can deliver their Local Transport Plans linked to local need including to improve participation rates. Increases in free or concession fares on public transport should also be considered. On welfare, the Autumn Budget measure to improve work incentives for young claimants is a welcome step. Government could also ensure families do not lose Child Benefit if their child starts an apprenticeship. The Crisis and Resilience Fund should be put on a sustainable footing and ‘resilience’ strengthened. The Government could work with councils to expand community-based arts, culture and sport activities often linking sessions with youth workers and mental health teams which build resilience and reduce disengagement. Calderdale Council offers monthly ‘Walk and Talk’ trips for care-leavers. National efforts to work with cultural and sporting institutions to support young people into work or training opportunities could be rapidly expanded by tapping into more sports and cultural grassroots activity such as Hull Council’s work with rugby teams to support care leavers, and Chesterfield Council’s work with the local football club Boots on the Ground.