Conservatives: One in eight young Brits now NEET as youth joblessness soars since election

Every morning nearly a million young people wake up in Britain with nothing to do and nowhere to go.

These are NEETs, not in education, employment or training, aged 16 to 24 years. This has rocketed since the election rising by over 36,000 to 957,459 young people in December 2025. This up from 921,198 in the three months to June 2024, and has increased by over 11,000 since September 2025, up from 946,231.

This correlates to an estimated 12.8 per cent, or one in eight, of all people aged 16 to 24 years in December 2025 being NEET, an increase of 0.2 per cent – up from 12.6 per cent at the general election.

Even more worrying is the growth in economically inactive NEETs, young people out of work and outside the labour market altogether. There are nearly 550,000 economically inactive young people aged 16 to 24 years who were NEET in December 2025.

Across the whole age group, youth unemployment has increased sharply since the election. Among 16- to 24-year-olds, unemployment has risen from 618,000 in May to July 2024 to 739,000 in October to December 2025 – over 120,000 more young people are out of work. This means unemployment rate has climbed from 14.3 per cent to 16.1 per cent for 16- to 24-year-olds.

Too many young people face a system that loads them with debt, restricts opportunity, and where work doesn't pay.

Labour have no serious answer to Britain's broken work incentives. They are presiding over record levels of youth unemployment, the lowest graduate recruitment levels ever and a conveyor belt of young people going straight from education to welfare – with 700,000 graduates now on benefits. They were prepared to strip Winter Fuel Payments from pensioners overnight, yet when it comes to reforming a welfare system that blunts work incentives, Keir Starmer doesn't have the backbone to stand up to his own left-wing backbenchers and act.

Reform UK are confused, contradictory, and completely uncredible. They have taken a series of varied positions on the two-child cap, floated carve-outs with no costings, and admitted they have no fiscal plan. They are not serious.

The Conservatives have recognised this issue and have a clear plan to tackle it head on, namely, our New Deal for Young People, which consists of 3 key points:

1. Abolish real interest rates on Plan 2 student loans so balances never rise faster than RPI inflation.

For years, graduates have seen their debts grow even while making repayments, with the IFS estimating that the average Plan 2 graduate must earn £66,000 just to keep pace with interest. That traps too many young people in rising debt while taxpayers write off unpaid balances. Under our plan, a doctor graduating with £80,000 of debt could save around £58,000 over their lifetime and clear their loan entirely. A graduate with £40,000 of debt earning £50,000 would save £26,000 and repay five years sooner.

1. End low-value “debt-trap” degrees and make apprenticeships a genuine alternative to university.

We will help 100,000 more young people into apprenticeships each year by lifting the cap on funding for 18- to 21-year-olds and introducing an Apprenticeships Guarantee so employers can access funded training. Through our BRITS scheme, employers would receive up to £5,000 for each 18–21-year-old British apprentice they take on, expanding high-quality opportunities and reducing reliance on overseas recruitment to fill skills gaps.

1. First Job Bonus, where the first £5,000 of National Insurance paid by any British citizen in their first full-time job will go into a personal savings account for a house deposit or future savings.

This New Deal will be funded by cutting rip-off university places and low-value degrees that saddle young people and taxpayers with debt that is never repaid.

Bold reform is needed to restore fairness, reward work and ensure young people have real choices. The Conservatives are calling on Labour to adopt these proposals at the Spring Statement and back a serious plan for the next generation.

Britain cannot tax its way to growth while millions sit outside the labour market. Only the Conservatives will fix the broken incentives, build a stronger economy, and get Britain working again.

Helen Whately MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, said:

“Young people are doing everything we ask of them, studying hard, taking on debt, trying to build a future, yet nearly a million young people are completely trapped.

“The Government is killing opportunities for the next generation, but Conservatives have seen what's happening and have a plan. Our New Deal for Young People will abolish real interest rates on Plan 2 student loans, end low-value “debt-trap” degrees, double apprenticeships, and give young people a £5,000 tax cut - our First Job Bonus - to help them save for a first home.”

Andrew Griffith MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Business and Trade, said:

“Labour's Jobs Tax, economic uncertainty and their red tape Employment Rights Bill are holding back hiring and creating a jobless generation. Starmer would rather duck the fight with their own backbenchers than fix a worklessness crisis that is bleeding the economy dry.

“Labour will not take the tough decisions needed to reward work and back business, forcing more people into unemployment, scuppering the wider economy.”

ENDS

Notes to Editors:

• 957,000 young people are not in education, employment or training, up by 36,000 on Labour's watch. There were 957,000 young people aged 16 to 24 who were not in education, employment or training in October to December 2025, up from 921,000 in April to June 2024 when the Conservatives left office, denying young people the opportunities they deserve (ONS, Young people not in education, employment of training, 26 February 2026, link).

• An estimated 12.8 per cent of all people aged 16 to 24 years in the UK were not in education, employment or training (NEET) in October to December 2025. An estimated 12.8 per cent of all people aged 16 to 24 years in October to December 2025 being were not in education, employment or training (NEET), an increase of 0.2 per cent – up from 12.6 per cent at the general election (ONS, Young people not in education, employment or training (NEET), UK: February 2026, 26 February 2026, link).

• There were an estimated 546,589 economically inactive young people aged 16 to 24 years who were not in education, employment or training (NEET) in October to December 2025. There were an estimated 546,589 economically inactive young people aged 16 to 24 years who were not in education, employment or training (NEET) in October to December 2025 (ONS, Young people not in education, employment or training (NEET), UK: February 2026, 26 February 2026, link).

Youth unemployment is rising: 

Table 1: Employment Aged 16-24 since July 2024

(ONS, Labour Market Statistics, 17 February 2026, link).

• Many graduates are not getting a return from going to university. Analysis by the Institute of Fiscal Studies found that ‘total returns [on going to university] will be negative for around 30 per cent of both men and women'. As a result, many graduates earn so little they never repay fully their student loans, leaving the taxpayer to cover nearly £8 billion in debt for students in England every year (IFS, The impact of undergraduates degrees on lifelong earnings, 27 February 2020, link; OBR, Economic and Fiscal Outlook, 27 November 2025, link). 

• The Centre for Social Justice warns benefits now outweigh wages for 6.2 million workers as health-related claims surge post-Covid. New analysis by the Centre for Social Justice finds that around 6.2 million full-time workers, roughly one in four, would be financially better off on benefits than in work once tax is considered. An economically inactive claimant receiving Universal Credit for ill health, alongside average housing support and Personal Independence Payment, can receive around £25,200 a year, equivalent to a £30,100 pre-tax salary, exceeding the post-tax pay of many low and middle-income jobs (The Centre for Social Justice, Press Release, 1 February 2026, archived).

Demand for apprenticeships outstrips supply, reducing opportunities for young people: 

• Young people want to do apprenticeships – but places are limited. Around 40 per cent of young people who register with UCAS – 400,000 people – report they would be interested in apprenticeships. However, only 90,000 18–21-year-olds are starting an apprenticeship each year². This compares to around 470,000 new starts on first degrees for students from England each year (HESA, HE student enrolments by level of study 2019/20 to 2023/24, link; Hansard, UIN 105368, 4 February 2026, link).  

• This is because apprenticeship funding is capped and increasingly directed towards older workers. While higher education places are uncapped, apprenticeship spending is capped and has been fully spent out in recent years. Between 2017, when the Apprenticeship Levy was introduced, and 2024/25, total spending rose by more than a third in real terms, yet participation among 18–21-year-olds fell as funding shifted towards older age groups. Starts among 18–21-year-olds declined from 118,070 in 2017-18 to 90,680 in 2024-25 (Hansard, UIN 105368, 4 February 2026, link).  

Our Plan for Young People has three points: 

1. We would abolish real interest rates on Plan 2 Student Loans. We would reduce the interest paid on Plan 2 Student Loans so it is no more than RPI inflation. This would mean no more real interest would be paid. This would benefit English undergraduate students who started courses between 2012/13 to 2022/23. 

2. We would introduce our Apprenticeships Guarantee. We would lift the funding cap for apprenticeships for 18–21-year-olds, ensuring employers have fully funded access to training and college places for every eligible apprentice they recruit, helping 100,000 extra young people into work every year. To encourage more employers to take on 18–21-year-olds we would introduce the Business Rebate for Investment in Training and Skills (BRITS) scheme, providing a new incentive of up to £5,000 for businesses to take on 18–21-year-old apprentices, provided they are British Citizens, lowering the cost of hiring and training young people.  

3. We would introduce our First Job Bonus. We want to support employers and employees, which is why – alongside our £5,000 BRITS scheme – we would introduce a £5,000 tax cut for young people. Under our First Job Bonus, the first £5,000 of National Insurance paid by any British citizen starting their first job will be placed into a personal savings account – earmarked for a first home deposit or future savings. 

Our student loan plan will save Plan 2 borrowers tens of thousands of pounds: 

• Indicatively, a doctor in 2029 with £80,000 of student debt will save £58,000 in lifetime repayments and clear their loans. Our analysis shows this doctor will also pay off their debt six years faster than under the current system, where their loan balance will be written off 30 years after their graduation. Post 2029, their total repayments would be £108,229 under our policy, compared with £166,238 under the status quo. We have modelled a doctor who started making Plan 2 repayments in April 2023 and has a salary of £70,000 in 2029, with an outstanding student loan balance of £80,000 at that time. Other assumptions include annual income growth and RPI in line with the OBR's long-term projections, and no repayment threshold freezes beyond existing Government policy. 

• Using the same model, a graduate with £40,000 of student debt on a salary of £50,000 would save £26,000 in lifetime repayments, and would clear their loan five years faster than under the current system.

The Conservatives are the only party that have a plan to cut welfare:

• The Conservatives will make £23 billion in savings by reforming non-pensioner welfare by:

• Restricting welfare to UK citizens
• Reforming sickness and disability benefits by ending access for lower-level mental health conditions and making greater use of face-to-face assessment
• Reforming housing benefit
• Reviewing the rates and exemptions from the Household Benefit Cap
• Reforming job-seeking obligations
• Reinstating the two-child benefit cap