| “Too often young people have had to fit into a bureaucratic system, rather than have that system fit around them. This misdirection of policy has occurred in the following four areas: -the provision of post-16 vocational education -incentives to work -job search support -policy aimed at young people disengaged from education and the labour market.” “Through paying ‘training providers’ on the completion of courses the Labour government encouraged the offer of easy rather than challenging course. And through paying per qualification rather than per student, they encouraged institutions to focus on how many qualifications they could get young people to take, rather than on what combination of courses would provide a balanced education.” “In addition to poor provision of curricula, the advice given to young people on what vocational courses to take under the last three governments became almost completely disconnected from which ones were valuable in the labour market.” “In the case of 16-17-year-olds, largely doing part-time work and almost always living at home, lower wages are mitigated by lower living costs. But for 18-20-year-olds, currently offered a wage of £4.98 per hour as opposed to the full rate of £6.08, there may well be no such mitigation. For this age group, the incentive to work is reduced at a time when many of them should be gaining valuable work experience.” “The new Work Programme offers one-to-one support after three months to young people considered ‘at risk’, but delays this support until nine months for all other 18-24-year-olds…” “A 17-year-old with no GCSEs, no post-16 training and no job is counted as NEET alongside a 24-year-old with a degree, who is married and staying at home to look after his or her family. This broadness can lead to stigmatisation and bad policy.” “The frequency of job change is more a fact of the current labour market. Such volatility suggest that many young people need a broad base of skills that will allow them to navigate a flexible market, rather than sector specific training.” “Too few young people with poor attainment at 16 go on to achieve core qualifications in maths and English, gain work experience, or do apprenticeships.” | 