edt's response to the interim Milburn review: fixing the systems that are leaving young people behind

Its findings chime strongly with edt’s own experience. Through our work in careers, skills and employability, we see every day that young people who are not in education, employment or training rarely lack ambition. More often, they face barriers that are structural, practical and personal: low confidence, poor mental health, limited access to local provision, transport challenges, digital exclusion and too few meaningful routes into work.

In our 2023 research with employability providers, 92% identified mental health as a barrier for the young people they support, while 90% cited lack of confidence. Frontline teams are also seeing more young people with autism, ADHD, dyslexia and anxiety, alongside the lasting effects of disrupted education and reduced workplace confidence. Our upcoming research report, Effective careers education and guidance in schools, also supports the diagnostic report’s findings: practitioners we interviewed, who were delivering school-based careers education and guidance across England, identified a growing set of under-served groups, including disengaged learners and students with post-pandemic anxiety.

The Review is right to identify fragmentation as a central problem. Schools, colleges, local authorities, strategic authorities, Jobcentre Plus, charities, employers, and Government departments all have a role, but too often young people experience this as a confusing smorgasbord of disconnected services rather than a clear pathway to support. In our upcoming research on effective careers education and guidance in schools, we found that in schools specifically, delivery is often shaped by school-led commissioning. This results in uneven provision, limited continuity, and minimal follow-up for those who need it most. Practitioners also reported limited access to long-term destination data, constraining learning and improvement.

We know what makes a difference. Careers information, advice, and guidance should be person-centred and built on relationships, trust, and adaptability – our research has found that this approach enables students, particularly those experiencing anxiety, disengagement, or additional needs to engage meaningfully. Careers advisers also play a critical role in broadening horizons and correcting misinformation, so should help students and families move beyond default assumptions and make realistic, informed choices. This must also be combined with meaningful exposure to workplaces, flexible funding to remove practical barriers, responsive post-16 learning pathways, and stronger coordination across education, employment, health and local services.

"This is not a failure of young people. It is a failure of systems that too often act too late..."

The scale of the challenge is stark. Nearly one million young people are NEET, with the majority economically inactive rather than unemployed. This is not a failure of young people. It is a failure of systems that too often act too late, work in silos and leave young people to navigate complexity alone.

With the Milburn Review’s final report due in September, the Government must have a robust plan to wholeheartedly address this deeply multi-faceted challenge: one that includes clear expectations and accountability for those in the position to play a role in supporting more young people into employment and training, longer-term funding for vital support services, and national consistency to avoid a postcode lottery, with local flexibility and young people’s voices at its heart.

“The Milburn Review is right to identify this as a systems failure, not a failure of young people. In our work across careers, skills and employability, we see young people with ambition and potential, but too often they are left to navigate fragmented services, practical barriers and unclear pathways alone. With the final report due in September, Government must have a robust plan with clear accountability, longer-term funding, national consistency and young people’s voices at its heart.”

Sarah Farquhar, CEO (Interim), edt