- An estimated 42,000 16 and 17-year-olds are enrolled in colleges but attending less than half the time, meaning they are effectively disengaged from education but remain outside official NEET figures
- True scale of young NEETs could be almost twice as large as official figures suggest, with the 42,000 severely absent college students adding to the 47,000 16 and 17-year-olds already known to be NEET
- Children’s Commissioner calls for attendance data to be consistently captured, greater mental health and wraparound support and better links between education and employment
Tens of thousands of 16 and 17-year-olds enrolled in further education settings are severely absent and attending learning less than half the time – meaning they are disengaged from education but remain invisible to official NEET figures, the Children’s Commissioner has warned.
Dame Rachel de Souza’s new analysis suggests the number of young people not in education, employment or training (NEET) is likely to be much higher than in official statistics, with an estimated 42,000 16 and 17-year-olds enrolled in colleges in England but attending less than half the time.
When these young people are considered alongside the 46,520 16 and 17-year-olds already known to be NEET, the number of disengaged young people is almost twice as large as official figures indicate.
With the Government committed to helping more young people find work and the second part of Alan Milburn’s review into NEETs coming, the Commissioner has put the spotlight on attendance at Further Education (FE) settings.
FE settings are not required to report to the Department for Education on attendance like schools, and so Dame Rachel’s attendance data, obtained using her statutory powers from 262 of England’s 290 college groups (more than 90 per cent of the sector) provides for the first-time a near-comprehensive picture of attendance data for FE settings.
Children’s Commissioner Dame Rachel de Souza said:
“I’ve heard from hundreds of thousands of children – they are ambitious, they want to do well, they want to work. Young people need a full, rich education that gives them the knowledge and skills to get on in life, but I have long argued too many children are missing out.
“My concern is that tens of thousands of children are currently being counted as ‘in education’ when, in reality, they are barely attending. We have a blind spot: hidden NEETs slipping through the cracks, young people with all the negative impacts of not being in employment, education or training but with none of the targeted interventions designed to help and support them.
“Further education is the crucial bridge between school and work, and that is why any solution to the NEETs crisis must address attendance must be built on urgently identifying and supporting young people before they disengage from education.”
Today’s new data shows that 28,528 16 and 17-year-olds were severely absent from further education settings in Spring 2026, meaning they missed half the sessions they were expected to attend. Extrapolated across all college groups in England, this represents an estimated 41,995 students are missing half the sessions they were expected to attend.
Dame Rachel’s report also revealed that attendance challenges extended beyond this severely absent cohort:
- More than half of college students were persistently absent, with 52.2 per cent of 16 and 17-year-olds having an attendance below 90 per cent – the measure of persistence absence used in schools.
- Attendance in colleges was substantially lower than in schools, with the average reported attendance rate for 16-year-olds being 84.8 per cent and 83.4 per cent for 17-year-olds, compared to the 94.8 per cent attendance rate for pupils in primary school and 91.6 per cent attendance rate for pupils in secondary school in the same Spring term of 2026.
- Lower attendance for GCSE England and math resit courses, at 75.6 per cent and 74.4 per cent respectively. Failure to achieve Level 2 qualifications in English and maths is an important risk marker of becoming NEET.
- Severe absence varied considerably by student groups, with students receiving free school meals, those with an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) and those looked after children all having higher absence rates than their peers.
Levels of ambition varied considerably between college groups. Nearly two-thirds (61.1 per cent) set attendance targets above 90 per cent, while almost a third (31.3 per cent) set attendance targets below this level – levels that would correspond to persistence absence in the school system. The remaining colleges (7.6 per cent) did not set attendance targets for their 16 and 17-year-olds.
Dame Rachel warned that young people who are technically “in education” but rarely attending risk becoming a blind spot in the government’s efforts to tackle the NEET crisis.
Rt Hon Alan Milburn said:
“The Children’s Commissioner is right to shine a light on hidden NEETs.
“The fact that colleges have no obligation to report attendance means tens of thousands of young people can disengage entirely without clear accountability. A better system is needed to ensure that no young person can be lost in this way.”
Colleges told the Commissioner that a host of barriers prevented young people from attending college, with concerns including mental health difficulties, poverty and financial hardship, transport problems, caring responsibilities, paid work and the transition from school to college, as well as previous negative experiences of education.
Despite these challenges, colleges shared examples of promising practice to improve attendance – for instance providing personalised support and working with families and external agencies – but said their efforts were hindered by funding pressures, a lack of statutory levers to support attendance and insufficient information sharing between schools and colleges about a student’s previous attendance.
Today’s report highlights the importance of identifying and supporting young people before they disengage completely from education. To reduce the number of young people who are NEET greater attention must be paid not only to those who have already left education but those who remain enrolled yet are disengaged from it.
Dame Rachel has set out the following recommendations:
- Attendance data for 16 and 17-year-olds should be collected consistently across all state-funded education providers, with the Department for Education setting ambitious targets for further education in consultation with the sector, which Ofsted can use to inform their judgements.
- Greater support for young people facing barriers to attendance, including expediting the rollout of Mental Health Support Teams in post-16 settings and wraparound support for young people entering college.
- Better support for young people’s transition into work, with better work experience opportunities and giving Metro Mayors and Combined Authorities responsibility for coordinating employer engagement with schools and colleges.
- Extending free bus travel to all children to reduce transport barriers young people face getting to college, especially in rural communities.
The report also captures the views and experiences of college staff and young people themselves.
“It’s like, they want experience for a part-time job, so I can’t get experience to get a job to get experience to get a job.” – Boy, 17, The Big Future national tour
“There’s not enough jobs. I know people who’ve gone to Uni, and now they’re back here, and they can’t get a job.” – Boy, 17, The Big Future national tour
“Make it easier for young people to get on to higher [education] courses without maths and English resits so that we can achieve our goals.” – Girl, 17, The Big Future survey
“The fact that there isn’t a clear way of recording attendance at Post 16 is farcical.” – Assistant Principal
“The single biggest driver of non-attendance is mental health, particularly anxiety. Funded mental health support teams, equivalent to those being rolled out in secondary schools, should be extended to post-16 settings.” – Academy Systems Lead
“One prospective student with autism, anxiety and communication needs faces a journey of up to two hours each way to access his chosen construction programme. Transport barriers have already limited his ability to engage with transition activities, increasing the risk of disengagement before starting college.” – Director of Management Information Systems (MIS)
