Participation in education, training and NEET age 16 to 17 by local authority
LA management information on participation and not in education or training (NEET) age 16 to 17. Includes ethnicity, SEND figures and comparative NEET scorecard
- Release type
- Produced by
- Department for Education
- Published
- Last updated
Background information
This release presents data for England showing the proportion of 16 and 17 year-olds participating in education and training and an estimate of those not in education, employment or training (NEET) by local authority (LA).
Data is collected using the National Client Caseload Information System (NCCIS), which draws together local databases used to support young people to engage in education and training and plan services that meet young people’s needs.
Some caution should be taken if using these figures due to the estimates being based on management information and there being considerable variation at local authority level in how well 16 and 17 year olds are tracked and hence not known proportions can impact on the estimates of the proportion NEET.
The release includes an interactive scorecard (dashboard) to enable local authorities (LAs) to compare their performance with other LAs and presents other measures related to attainment and attendance alongside to give additional context.
Headline facts and figures
National statistics are published annually in the release 'Participation in Education, Training and Employment age 16 to 18' and should be used for the most robust estimates of Participation and NEET in England at national level.
Participation in education and training, ages 16 and 17 by local authority
Participation rates in March 2022 ranged from 84.5% in Stoke-on-Trent to 98.8% in City of London.
In the latest year,
- 57 local authorities had relatively stable participation in education and training rates when compared to the same period of the previous year (+/- 0.5 percentage points)
- 35 improved (>0.5 percentage points)
- 57 had lower proportions participating than in the previous year (< 0.5 percentage points)
Not in education, employment and training (NEET) or activity not known, ages 16 and 17 by local authority
NEET/not known rates at the end of 2021/start of 2022 ranged from 0.0% in City of London to 14.7% in Medway.
In the latest year,
- 49 local authorities had relatively stable NEET/not known rates when compared to the same period of the previous year (+/- 0.5 percentage points)
- 82 improved (< 0.5 percentage points)
- 19 had higher proportions NEET/not known than the previous year (> 0.5 percentage points).
Note: Participation estimates are based on data collected in March each year. In order to ensure the most robust estimates of NEET and not known rates an average of December/January/February data is used for an estimate around the end of the calendar year.
Annual comparisons are not available for Northamptonshire in 2022 due to boundary changes.
Tables
The tables below have been created to allow quick access to key information:
- Table 1a - Total participation in education and training with annual change
- Table 1b - Participation by type of activity
- Table 2 - Participation by duty
- Table 3 - Participation in education and training by age and gender
- Table 4 - Participation in education and training by ethnic group
- Table 5 - Participation by Special Education Needs and Disability (SEND) and SEN support
- Table 6 - Participation in education and training time series
- Table 7a - NEET/not known with annual change
- Table 7b - NEET or not known
- Table 8 - NEET/not known by age and gender
- Table 9 - NEET/not known by ethnic group
- Table 10 - NEET/not known by Special Education Needs and Disability (SEND) and SEN support
- Table 11 - NEET/not known time series
You can explore the data further and build your own tables with our online table tool builder from the “Download data and files” section above.
Maps
Data source
Local authorities in England must report information to the Department for Education through the National Client Caseload Information System (NCCIS). The number of 16 and 17-year-olds known to the local authority and information about the young person's activity are recorded on the local authority client databases, extracts from which are used for this underlying data.
Local authorities are required to provide:
- basic information about young people in their area (such as name and address)
- their needs and characteristics (gender, ethnic group, disability, care leaver)
- their post-16 transition plans (intended destination, September Guarantee offers)
- their current activity and when this was last confirmed.
The age of the learner is measured at the beginning of the academic year, 31 August.
Further information can be found in the accompanying methodology.
Legislation
Legislation was introduced in 2013/14 increasing the age to which all young people in England are required to remain in education or training.
Introduced in two stages, it applied to:
- Young people who left year 11 in summer 2013, who were required to stay in some form of education or training for at least a further year until 27th June 2014.
- Young people who started in year 11 (or years below) in September 2013, who were required to continue until at least their 18th birthday.
The first cohort impacted by stage 1 of the Raising the participation age (RPA) legislation were academic age 16 (usually year 12) in 2013/14 and academic age 17 in 2014/15. Those young people impacted by stage 2 of RPS were academic age 16 in 2014/15 and age 17 in 2015/16.
The government provides the framework and funding to increase participation and reduce the proportion of young people not in education, employment or training (NEET), however, responsibility and accountability for delivery lies with local authorities. Under Section 68 of the Education and Skills Act 2008 (ESA 2008) local authorities have a duty to encourage, enable or assist young people’s participation in education or training.
The government publishes local authority participation data so that members of the public can make informed decisions about the performance of their own local authority.
Other data sources and publications
The Department for Education’s definitive measures for England of participation and not in education, employment or training (NEET) for 16 to 18 year olds are published annually in the national statistics release 'Participation in Education, Training and Employment age 16 to 18'.
Participation and NEET figures are also published in other statistics releases. The table below provides a summary of the four related releases.
| Title | Participation in education, training and employment | NEET statistics annual brief | Young people NEET | Local authority NEET and participation |
| Producer | Department for Education | Department for Education | Office for National Statistics | Department for Education |
| Status | National Statistic | National Statistic | National Statistic | Transparency data |
| Age range | 16-18 | 16-24 | 16-24 | 16-17 |
| Age type | Academic age[1] | Academic age[1] | Actual age | Academic age[1] |
| Country | England | England | UK | England |
| Regional breakdowns | No | Yes | No | Yes |
| LA breakdown | No | No | No | Yes |
| Data type | Mostly administrative | Survey | Survey | Management information |
| Frequency of publication | Annually | Annually | Quarterly | Annually |
| Seasonally adjusted | No | No | Yes | No |
| When to use?[2] | England NEET (and participation) figures, age 16-18 | England/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.
Contact us
If you have a specific enquiry about Participation in education, training and NEET age 16 to 17 by local authority statistics and data:
Post 16 Participation, NEET and Attainment Statistics
Email: post16.statistics@education.gov.ukContact name: Anneka Albon
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