Dr Deirdre Hughes, executive director of CareerChat UK, has called for a fundamental shift in how the UK supports young people not in education, employment or training (Neet), arguing that systemic change must begin with early and sustained careers intervention. In response to Alan Milburn’s interim review into Neet young people, Hughes said the issue is not a failure of young people but a system failure.
System failure, not young people's failure
Milburn’s interim review, published on 28 May, highlights deep structural dysfunction that has left over 1 million young people locked out of work and learning. It points to a stark imbalance: for every £1 spent on employment support, £25 is spent on benefits. However, Hughes warns that framing this primarily as a welfare and employment problem risks overlooking a deeper issue: chronic underinvestment in high-quality, impartial careers guidance across schools, colleges and communities.
“For every pound redirected from benefits to employment support, we might also ask how little has ever been directed toward helping young people develop the career management skills, self-knowledge and labour market awareness that would prevent them reaching that fork in the road in the first place,” Hughes wrote in a letter to the Guardian.
Early intervention is key
Hughes stressed that early, sustained careers intervention – not just at the point of crisis – is where systemic change must begin. Schools cannot deliver this without ringfenced, direct-delivery funding for trained, independent career guidance professionals. The role of AI-powered careers tools offers potential, particularly for reaching young people outside institutional support structures, but technology alone cannot replace human relationships and mentoring, which make the decisive difference.
Milburn’s final report, due this autumn, is keenly awaited. Hughes urged that it must place a reformed, properly resourced careers guidance system – spanning education, health and welfare – at its centre.
