Calendar year 2023

Participation in education, training and employment age 16 to 18

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Introduction

This annual release contains the Department for Education's official measures of participation in education training and employment and NEET (not in education, employment or training) in England, academic age 16 to 18.

Revisions to previous estimates

The Office for National Statistics (ONS) routinely revise population estimates. In 2024 revisions have had an impact on previously published proportions in education, employment and training for the period 2011-2022. For further detail on the changes see the accompanying methodology, however in summary increases in the population estimates have led to slight falls in participation rates and slight increases in NEET estimates for the period.

Caution when interpreting these estimates

Some caution should be taken when considering single age and single year estimates of proportions of young people in employment and NEET as these are estimated from the labour force survey (LFS) and sample size variation can impact on the accuracy of estimates.


Headline facts and figures - 2023

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Overview of 16-18 participation and NEET

The population of 16-18 year olds are classified into one of the following four headline categories:

  • In education and apprenticeships: 

This includes young people in full and part-time education or those on an apprenticeship. Further detail regarding mode of study, qualification aims and institution types can be found in additional sections.

  • In wider training

This includes those in Employer Funded Training (EFT) or privately funded training outside of an apprenticeship classified as Other Education and Training (OET).

  • In employment

This looks at those Not in Education or Training (NET) but in employment.

  • Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET)

This is all those young people not classified previously. Those NEET are either inactive in the labour market or unemployed.

Headline measures are presented for the following age groupings:

16-17 year olds who are required to remain in education and training in England following Raising the participation age (RPA) legislation in 2013.

18 year olds  who are in their first year post compulsory education.

Headlines: Participation in education, apprenticeships and wider training

Measures of participation:

Education and apprenticeships: Includes full-time and part-time education in schools, colleges and higher education and apprenticeships.  Overlaps are removed to give a definitive estimate of the proportion participating.

Wider/other training: The ‘All education and training’ measure includes all education and apprenticeships as above plus Employer Funded Training (EFT) and Other Education and Training (OET).

Not in Education or Training (NET):  The remainder of the population not in any education or training.

Note: 16-17 year olds are required to remain in education and training in England following raising the participation age (RPA)  legislation in 2013. Education and apprenticeships are used as our headline measure as they are the best estimate for monitoring RPA compliance (see methodology for more information).

All percentages are expressed as proportions of the population by academic age as estimated by the Office for National Statistics (ONS).

Wider training

Age 16-17: 2.6% in wider training, a fall of 0.7 percentage points in the latest year and the lowest proportion since 2010, with:

Age 18: 8.8% in wider training, an increase of 0.8 percentage points in the latest year and the highest rate since 2016, with:

Trends in NET (not in education or training)

At the end of 2023, 16.4% of 16-18 year olds were not in any education or training, slightly lower than last year. 

Age 16-17: 7.6% were NET, a fairly consistent rate since 2019.

Age 18: 33.8% were NET, a slight increase in the latest year.

Headlines: Employment rates and labour market status

Two factors affect the proportion of young people Not in Education Employment or Training (NEET):

  1. the proportion Not in any Education or Training (NET)
  2. the employment rate for young people who are NET, estimated from the Labour Force Survey

Compulsory education means that most 16 and 17 year olds are in some form of education or training so NET rates are low. In 2023, 7.6% of 16-17 year olds were NET of which their labour market status was:

  • 33.7% in employment (2.6% of the 16-17 population)
  • 23.5% unemployed (1.8% of the 16-17 population)
  • 42.8% economically inactive (3.2% of the 16-17 population)

In contrast, a third of 18 year olds were NET of which their labour market status was:

  • 58.6% in employment (19.8% of age 18 population)
  • 19.8% unemployed (6.7% of age 18 population)
  • 21.6% economically inactive (7.3% of age 18 population)

Note: Labour market status is estimated from the labour force survey (LFS). Sample sizes in the LFS are small for individual age cohorts, particularly when looking at a sub-group such as those who are NET, so caution should be taken when interpreting changes over the short term.

Underlying data is also included which looks at the labour market status of those in education and training and can be viewed here Table 6 - Participation by labour market status (employed, unemployed, economically inactive) (2019-2023)  i.e. the proportion of 18 year olds in education or training and also in employment.

Headlines: NEET (Not in education employment or training)

Two factors affect the proportion of young people NEET:

  1. the proportion Not in Education and Training (NET)
  2. the employment rate for young people who are NET, estimated from the Labour Force Survey

Some caution should be taken when considering single age and single year estimates of proportions of young people in employment as these are estimated from the labour force survey (LFS) and can fluctuate year on year. Looking at trends can give a more robust insight. See methodology for further information. 

Age 16-17 participation by qualification aim and provider type

Highest qualification aim of 16-17 year olds

Institution type

There was an increase in the proportion of 16-17 year olds studying in General FE, tertiary and specialist colleges and a decrease in the proportion in state-funded schools.

16-17 year olds are required to remain in education and training in England following raising the participation age (RPA) legislation in 2013.

Age 18 participation by qualification aim and provider type

Highest qualification aim of 18 year olds in education or apprenticeships

In 2023, 57.3% of 18 year olds were in education or on an apprenticeship, the lowest proportion since 2008. Lower participation rates in recent years have been driven by less 18 year olds studying for a qualification at level 3 or below with the proportion studying for a Higher Education qualification, level 4 or above, remaining one of the highest since the series began in 1994. The changes could possibly result from a change in assessments and resulting attainment during the COVID-19 pandemic driving different post-16 choices for these cohorts. 

Further breakdowns (e.g part-time education) are available through the online table tool builder. This includes more granular breakdowns of the other level 2 and 3 courses.

Institution type

At age 18 most study is in higher education institutions.

  • The proportion of 18 year olds in studying in Higher Education Institutions fell by 1.0 percentage point in 2023 to 33.5%, however the proportion in HE institutions is comparable to the 2019 rate.

Further breakdowns (e.g by part-time education) are available through the online table tool builder

Breakdowns by sex: Participation and NEET

Participation by sex

Females aged 16-18 have higher participation rates than males largely due to more being in full-time education. 

Looking at proportions participating in education or apprenticeships at end 2023:

  • age 16/17: 91.2% of females were participating, an increase of 0.7 percentage points since 2022, compared with 88.5% of males, an increase of 0.9 percentage points. The female full-time education rate increased in the latest year to 86.7%, up 0.6 percentage points, and the male rate was 81.5%, up 1.0 percentage points, a record high.
  • age 18: 59.5% of females were participating compared with 55.3% of males, the lowest rates since 2009 and 2008. The female full-time education rate decreased in the latest year to 52.4%, down 0.5 percentage points, the lowest rate since 2012 and the male rate was 44.5%, down 0.4 percentage points and the lowest rate since 2009.

Institution type of those in education by sex

The following section looks at the institution type of those in full or part-time education and not apprenticeships.

Highest qualification aim of those in education by sex

The following section looks at the highest qualification aim of those in full or part-time education and not apprenticeships.

NEET rate by sex

About this release

These are the Department for Education's official measures for 16 to 18 years olds:

  • participation in education and training
  • those not in education, employment and training (NEET)

The estimates relate to a snapshot of activities at the end of the calendar year, and are based on academic age, defined as ‘age at the start of the academic year’ i.e. age as at 31 August. 

These statistics provide new estimates for end 2023 and present recent changes in the context of historical trends. They also update previous estimates of participation and NEET from 2011-2022 following revisions to the 16-18 population data.

Information is drawn together from various post-16 data sources to give a coherent and comprehensive picture of participation and employment. Sources include administrative data from schools, further education, apprenticeships and higher education. Wider training and employment rates are estimated from the Labour Force Survey (LFS). 

The release includes analysis by age, sex, type of learning, institution type, labour market status and highest qualification aim. It also includes reference to other published data on participation and not in education, employment and training (NEET) rates, including estimates for the wider 16-24 age group and data collected by local authorities.

The accompanying methodology provides information on the data sources, their coverage and quality, and explains the production process for the data.

Feedback

We welcome feedback on any aspect of this publication at post16.statistics@education.gov.uk (opens in a new tab)

Other sources

Participation and NEET figures are also published in other statistics releases. The table below provides a summary of the four related releases. A more detailed comparison of the NEET and NET estimated from these sources is available in NEET age 16 to 24.

TitleParticipation in education, training and employmentNEET age 16 to 24Young people NEETLocal authority NEET and participation
ProducerDepartment for EducationDepartment for EducationOffice for National StatisticsDepartment for Education
StatusAccredited Official StatisticsOfficial statistics in developmentOfficial statistics in developmentTransparency data
Age range16-1816-2416-2416-17
Age typeAcademic age[1]Academic age[1]Actual ageAcademic age[1]
CountryEnglandEnglandUKEngland
Regional breakdownsNoYes (2022 and prior)NoYes
LA breakdownNoNoNoYes
Data typeMostly administrativeSurveySurveyManagement information
Frequency of publicationAnnuallyAnnuallyQuarterlyAnnually
Seasonally adjustedNoNoYesNo
When to use?[2]England NEET (and participation) figures, age 16-18England/regional NEET figures, age 16-24 (includes reasons NEET) UK NEET figures, age 16-24 (published quarterly so often most timely)LA/regional NEET (and participation) figures, age 16-17 (includes pupil characteristics) 

[1] Academic age is defined as ‘age at the start of the academic year’ i.e. age as at 31 August. Actual age is defined as ‘respondents age at the time surveyed’.

[2] Left to right indicates recommended order of preference in which the statistics should be used based on most users’ needs and robustness of the data.

Sources

The Participation in education, training and employment statistics series are DfE’s (Department for Education’s) definitive statistics on participation and NEET for the 16-18 age group. As these estimates are based on administrative data reported by institutions, they are considered the most robust available. 

DfE’s October to December NEET/NET estimates using the Labour Force Survey (usually published February/March each year) is survey data where NEET/NET status is self-reported by the young person.

Age 16-17 regional and local authority NEET estimates (opens in a new tab) are published annually by DfE as transparency data. Figures on NEETs are provided as an average of December, January and February.  This information comes from local authorities NCCIS systems (National Client Caseload Information System) . Some caution should be taken if using the NCCIS figures. This is due to the estimates being based on management information which means they are not produced to the same standards as official/National statistics. Also, the NCCIS figures include ‘not known’ activity, which results in some overestimation of NEET, as can be seen in the chart when comparing the NCCIS figures to the LFS and participation figures.

Comparison of NEET estimates

The charts below show comparisons of NEET estimates from the above sources at ages 16-18 and 16-17. 

Age 16-18

Age 16-17

Labour Force Survey (LFS) response rates have seen a decreasing trend in recent decades with a notably smaller samples in the last couple of years. As a result, additional caution should be taken when interpreting estimates of employment and wider training in this release. 95% confidence intervals are shown for estimates from the LFS and have been widening in recent years which reflects the smaller sample sizes.

Further information on the LFS and how we use this data to estimate wider participation and NEET rates can be found in the accompanying methodology.

Help and support

Methodology

Find out how and why we collect, process and publish these statistics.

Accredited official statistics

These accredited official statistics have been independently reviewed by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR). They comply with the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics. Accredited official statistics are called National Statistics in the Statistics and Registration Service Act 2007.

Accreditation signifies their compliance with the authority's Code of Practice for Statistics which broadly means these statistics are:

  • managed impartially and objectively in the public interest
  • meet identified user needs
  • produced according to sound methods
  • well explained and readily accessible

Our statistical practice is regulated by the Office for Statistics Regulation (OSR).

OSR sets the standards of trustworthiness, quality and value in the Code of Practice for Statistics that all producers of official statistics should adhere to.

You are welcome to contact us directly with any comments about how we meet these standards. Alternatively, you can contact OSR by emailing regulation@statistics.gov.uk or via the OSR website.

Contact us

If you have a specific enquiry about Participation in education, training and employment age 16 to 18 statistics and data:

Post-16 statistics team

Email: post16.statistics@education.gov.uk
Contact name: Sally Marshall

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Telephone: 020 7783 8300

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