1. Re-engaging young people who are not in education, employment or training
Lessons from the evaluation of the Youth Contract for year olds in England
Becci Newton, IES Principal Research Fellow

2. Causes and implications of being NEET at a young age
Social disadvantage and vulnerability make NEET more likely
But young people attribute NEET to problematic authority structures and sense of failure
Social disadvantages and vulnerabilities more likely as a result of being NEET
NEET is a persistent status
Being NEET scars – there are lifetime social and economic costs
There are significant costs to the public purse stemming from NEET
In England, local authorities have responsibility for young people NEET between years, and up to 24 years for those with Learning Difficulties/Disabilities

3. What were the trends when the Youth Contract was introduced?
82,300
39,900
25,900

4. What comprised the Youth Contract?
DWP: year old claimants - early access to NCS & additional IAG, SBWA, work experience, wage subsidies (£2,200)
BIS: year olds – Apprenticeship Grant for Employers (£1,500)
DfE: low skilled &/ disadvantaged year olds NEET – intensive support to re-engage and participate

5. Youth Contract 16-17 year olds
Black box delivery via two models:
National via prime provides and supply chains using PbR weighted on sustained participation meeting RPA duties; tight eligibility
Local solutions devised by City Deal areas with less restrictive eligibility; some use of PbR
National YC available to young people NEET aged years who
Had no GCSE A*-C (expected qualifications from upper secondary stufy); then extended to:
Up to 2 GCSEs A*-C &/
Care leavers and young offenders
Regions typically extended eligibility by allowing those with a higher number of qualifications to be supported:
Two City Deals focused on providing support to young people NEET, although had differing emphases on work or training as outcomes
One City Deal sought to support young people NEET into Apprenticeships specifically

6. The evaluation approaches

7. Results
Participants had long histories of under-performance and challenges in education
Youth Contract assisted many to initially re-engage through bite-size/small step, non-accredited provision; for many this was a pre-cursor to formal learning
Overall, 1.8 ppt reduction on national NEET rate (YC targeted only a sub-set of NEET)
12 ppt increase in participation nationally
33% in learning/training nationally (RPA-compliant)
Net benefit of £12,900 arising from each sustained re-engagement under national model

8. Lessons for policy
Lack of reliable qualifications data to assess eligibility
Identifying eligible young people challenging, relied on LA engagement
Inside the Black Box consistent picture of delivery centred on Key Worker support
Payment-by-Results to providers did not recognise the work that went into achieving & sustaining participation

9. Lessons for delivery
Key Worker model can support young people in different situations
Risk of NEET: mentoring; support to choose, apply and attend post-16 provision
NEET after post-16 EET: building trust and confidence, mapping opportunities
Entrenched NEET: small-step progression; intensive, holistic support; treated as an adult; trust and rapport
Post-16 provision in England appears sufficient/adequate

10. Lessons for evaluation
Innovative use of administrative data; effective estimates of impact using QED
led to development of Longitudinal Educational Outcomes data-set in England
Re-engagement in education led to estimates of qualifications that would be gained which in turn led to impact estimates
Qualitative evaluation approaches provided explanatory material to impacts identified
Flexibility and adaptiveness in evaluation approach worked well in respect of Black Box delivery and differing models (national vs regional)