NEET crisis requires COVID-like response, say business chiefs

Thursday 12 November 2026

The Government should create a NEET Taskforce modelled on the COVID Vaccine Taskforce to drive more young people into apprenticeships and lower the cost of hiring, the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) says today, ahead of the final Milburn review next week.

LCCI's new report, Back Young People, Back Growth: Fixing the Social Contract, calls for the taskforce to be led by a business leader and report directly to the Prime Minister, with a target of halving the number of young people not in work, education or training by 2030, saving at least £11 billion a year. New research commissioned by LCCI and conducted by YouGov among more than 1,000 young people aged 24 to 35 and over 500 employers across the UK found:

• More than half of employers (53%) say they are more likely to hire someone with a completed apprenticeship over someone without one, compared with 45% who say the same of a university degree.
• 61% of employers say they would hire a young person with no work history at all.
• Almost six in ten employers (58%) say removing employer National Insurance for under-25s would help their business.
• Just 7% of employers say young people arrive with all the skills their business needs, while 38% say they arrive with few or none.
• 90% of those aged between 24 and 35 said it is better to have a job than not.
• 59% of young workers say they pay too much income tax, rising to 68% of those earning £45,000 to £69,999. Half of young workers earning £45,000 or more say benefits are too high, as do 44% of the young self-employed.

Every year, 125,000 more young people go to university than start an apprenticeship, while the gap between university and apprenticeships is now five times wider than it was in 2006. For every young person starting an apprenticeship, nearly three still go to university. To tackle the NEET crisis and make an apprenticeship as valuable as a degree, LCCI is calling on the Government to:

• Make apprenticeships tax-free for employers and apprentices, so an apprentice aged 22 on £20,000 keeps £2,080 a year more and an employer saves £2,250 a year on an apprentice aged 25 or over.
• Scrap employer National Insurance for every worker under 25, saving an employer £3,000 a year on a £25,000 salary.
• Give apprentices a £3,000 Completion Bonus towards a first home ISA when they finish their first apprenticeship, with a matching £3,000 for employers who keep them on for 12 months. One in three apprenticeships are never completed.
• Create Apprenticeship+, offering apprentices one day a week at university to learn higher education skills and experience university life without the debt of a three-year degree.
• Introduce Junior Apprenticeships from Year 10, alongside a new Employment Skills GCSE.
• Launch the Great British Apprenticeship Campaign, the largest ever national campaign to raise the status of apprenticeships, alongside a new Entrepreneur Apprenticeship.
• Cap out-of-work benefits for under-25s at 12 months, after which every young person moves onto a paid apprenticeship, funded by the Government and delivered by Mayors or local authorities.

Young people are facing a growing squeeze on incomes, are stuck renting rather than buying, unable to afford to start a family and struggling to find the right job or any job at all. To fix the social contract for the next generation, make hiring more affordable and ensure businesses can access the skills they need to grow, LCCI is calling for the following:

• Raise the tax-free threshold to £18,000 for everyone under 35, worth £1,100 a year.
• Launch a Youth Oyster, giving every Londoner under 25 and every apprentice half-price fares, and a tax-free Commute to Work scheme for under-35s in every region, with unlimited travel within regions for £80 a month.
• Create a Starting a Family ISA with a 25% government top-up for each parent, and double the Tax-Free Childcare cap to £4,000 per child.
• Let first-time buyers divert their pension contributions into a deposit, and allow lenders to offer a London Mortgage at 6x income, with rent paid on time counted in every mortgage application.
• Fix student loansby abolishing interest and cutting repayments from 9% to 3%. A Plan 2 graduate earning £51,000 loses 51p of every extra pound, against 47p for a millionaire.

If the package were implemented, an apprentice aged 22 on £20,000 would be £3,110 a year better off from paying no income tax or National Insurance and a half-price Youth Oyster, and would walk away with £3,000 towards their first home when they qualify. A London business with ten staff, three of them aged 21 to 24 and an apprentice aged 25 or over, would cut its employer National Insurance bill by more than two-thirds, saving £15,750 a year. A firm employing ten staff aged 21 to 24 on £25,000 would save £34,500 a year.

The package would be funded by replacing the triple lock with an Earnings Guarantee, halving the number of young people who are NEET, getting 50,000 more young people a year into apprenticeships instead of university, means-testing free travel for pensioners and bringing the working-age sickness benefits bill back to 2021-22 levels, saving £26 billion in year two and £38 billion in year three.

Karim Fatehi OBE, Chief Executive of the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said:

“Businesses are telling us loud and clear that they value completed apprenticeships, and that they are willing to take a chance on young people with no work history at all. What is holding them back is the cost of taking anyone on.

“The NEET crisis deserves the same urgency we gave the pandemic. If the Government is serious about getting young people into work, it has to back the businesses that will employ them, by cutting the cost of hiring and making apprenticeships tax-free.”

Aaron Walker, Head of Policy and Public Affairs at the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry, said:

“If the Government responds to the NEET crisis with minor tweaks to the edges of the apprenticeship, welfare and education systems, without the fundamental and radical reform we badly need, or without lowering the cost of hiring and the cost of doing business, the Milburn review will fail.

“No Government can subsidise a million young people back into work. The answer to the £125 billion a year NEET crisis can only come from giving businesses the backing they need to hire and grow. If businesses cannot grow, the economy cannot grow.

“There is not a single person in the country today who benefits from a less wealthy, less successful and less prosperous next generation. Young people themselves suffer, businesses suffer, and wider society suffers. If today’s young people are at risk of becoming the first generation to be worse off than their parents, then the next generation to retire are at risk of having a worse retirement than their parents. If we back our young people, we will back growth.”

ENDS

Notes to editors

Back Young People, Back Growth: Fixing the Social Contract is published by the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry on  Wednesday 11 November 2026.

LCCI commissioned two YouGov surveys to provide insight into the experiences and views of young people and employers in the UK. The Youth Employment Survey surveyed 1,039 UK adults aged 24–35, and the Business Survey surveyed 509 UK employers. Both surveys were conducted online from 12 to 25 August 2026. Figures have been weighted and are representative of their respective populations.

The report draws on the Milburn Review's estimate that almost one million young people are not in employment, education or training, at an annual cost of £125 billion to the economy.

About the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry

The London Chamber of Commerce and Industry is the voice of London's business community, with a 12,000-strong business network of SMEs and microbusinesses, major corporations and cultural and educational institutions. Founded in 1881, LCCI represents London's businesses and promotes international trade.