September 25, 2026
Why the North East’s NEET crisis demands a long-term response
The Centre for Social Justice’s new report, 16–24 Going Under: Tackling the NEETs crisis in the North East, should be viewed as both a warning and a call to action.
Its headline finding is stark. In 2025, 18.3 per cent of 16 to 24-year-olds in the North East were not in education, employment or training, compared with 12.7 per cent across the UK. This is not simply a problem we can blame on the pandemic, the North East has had the country’s worst NEET rate for many years.
At the Harrison Foundation, we welcome the report and agree with its diagnosis. The CSJ identifies four interconnected challenges: a regional economy that does not create enough accessible entry-level jobs; an education system in which too many young people disengage; a welfare system that can make the journey back into work harder; and rising ill-health, particularly mental ill-health.
Most importantly, the report also identifies what works: trusted adults, practical education connected to employment, employers prepared to offer a first chance and community organisations capable of reaching people who may not engage with conventional services.
That closely reflects what the Harrison Foundation has spent much of the past decade trying to achieve.
The Harrison Centre for Social Mobility was established in 2017 around a straightforward belief: where somebody starts in life should not determine where they finish.
Our partnership with Sunderland’s Foundation of Light is a good example. The first Harrison Centre opened at the Beacon of Light in 2018 and more than £600,000 has since been invested in Foundation of Light employability programmes.
These combine essential skills such as English, maths, IT and financial literacy with qualifications linked to sectors including manufacturing, logistics, hospitality, retail, health and social care and education.
The results demonstrate the value of sustained intervention. Since the Harrison Centre opened, thousands of people have accessed training, more than 250,000 guided learning hours have been delivered and more than 65 per cent of learners have progressed into further education or employment. In one recent year, 367 learners were supported. Of 316 adult learners, 201 progressed into further education or employment, with 94 per cent of those entering work still employed six months later.
Another reporting period saw 86 per cent of participating 16 to 18-year-olds progress into education or employment, while 87 per cent of adults entering work remained employed six months later.
These are the first rungs of the ladder the CSJ says need rebuilding.
The report also highlights the deterioration in educational outcomes during secondary school in the North East. This suggests the issue is not a lack of talent, but too many young people becoming disengaged as they grow older.
Our partnership with the Newcastle United Foundation addresses precisely this problem. The Harrison Foundation’s wider partnership with Newcastle United Foundation dates back to 2017. The Harrison Centre for Social Mobility at NUCASTLE opened in 2022 and since then has supported almost 16,200 participants.
Furthermore, since September 2024, 945 young people have been supported across six secondary schools, exceeding the original target of 900. More than 380 pupils with special educational needs or disabilities participated, twice the target, and 163 qualifications were awarded. Ninety-three per cent of students reported feeling inspired and engaged.
During the 2025/26 academic year, 746 young people participated in interventions across the six schools. Ninety-six per cent said they felt inspired and engaged and 90 per cent reported improved confidence and self-esteem.
The programme now delivers more than 1,600 tailored sessions annually. That is important because waiting until somebody is 18 or 20 and already outside education and employment is often waiting too long. A trusted adult, alternative activity or practical learning experience at 13 or 14 can prevent disengagement becoming entrenched.
Our support for NE Youth takes the same approach. In 2025, we funded an entire cohort of its Young Leaders Programme, enabling young people aged 13 and 14 to gain practical experience of leadership, teamwork and problem-solving alongside an accredited qualification.
The CSJ rightly highlights the gap between education and employment. The Harrison Foundation has been working to close that gap for years. In 2018, the Harrison Foundation helped establish the national Social Mobility Pledge, encouraging employers to work with schools, provide apprenticeships and work experience and adopt fairer recruitment practices. Within six months, companies employing one million people had signed.
Our Harrison Challenges have similarly exposed young people to business-style challenges, teamwork, presentations and problem-solving.
Through our partnership with The Open University, we have also expanded access to education digitally. Our founder, Sir David Harrison’s £1.4 million investment helped establish the True Potential Centre for the Public Understanding of Finance, whose free financial education had reached more than one million people by 2022.
That work has now been extended with a free financial literacy resource for secondary schools across England, helping 15 to 17-year-olds understand payslips, tax, budgeting, saving and financial decision-making.
One of the report’s most important conclusions is that trusted community organisations can reach people whom mainstream services struggle to engage.
Our partnership in Darlington with First Stop, combined employability and education support with an organisation already helping people facing challenges such as debt, housing difficulties and digital exclusion.
Our support for Cornerstone Benwell follows the same principle. Around 150 people use Cornerstone’s services in Newcastle’s West End every week. Harrison Foundation support has helped it provide practical assistance, confidence-building activities and its Sturdy Foundations skills programme.
Opportunity sometimes starts with a qualification or job interview. But for someone facing multiple disadvantages, it can start with having somewhere trusted to go and somebody prepared to listen.
The CSJ also identifies ill-health, particularly mental ill-health, as a major factor in economic inactivity. Our experience reinforces the importance of intervening much earlier.
The Harrison Foundation has supported the Sunshine Fund since 2017. A £27,000 donation in 2025 funded 30 specialist equipment applications, benefiting 29 individual children and a primary school whose support reached 472 pupils.
At Acomb First School, we provided £128,000 for a purpose-built Wellbeing Hub supporting children with sensory and additional needs. More than 30 children now use it every day.
At The Dales School in Blyth, we have funded specialist SEND facilities including £7,000 for outdoor learning provision and £22,000 for a Soft Play Pod supporting sensory processing, communication, coordination and independence.
These investments belong in the NEET conversation because social mobility cannot begin at 18. Supporting a child’s health, confidence and engagement at five, eight or twelve can help determine whether they remain engaged with education and opportunity at sixteen.
But there is an important distinction between treating the symptoms of the NEET crisis and finding the cure. The programmes above show what can be achieved when young people receive the right intervention and support. The longer-term challenge must be to reduce the number who become disengaged in the first place. That means intervening earlier, creating stronger practical routes from education into employment and, crucially, ensuring the North East economy creates enough accessible entry-level jobs, apprenticeships and genuine opportunities for young people to progress.
The Harrison Foundation does not pretend philanthropy alone can solve the North East’s NEET crisis. Government, regional leaders, schools, colleges, employers and charities all have a role. But our experience demonstrates what can work – early intervention, trusted relationships, practical education, sustained guidance, employer involvement and long-term support.
Philanthropy can help demonstrate what works and treat some of the immediate symptoms. The cure requires those lessons to be applied at scale.
That is why we welcome Going Under. We’ve always said talent is everywhere but opportunity is not. The challenge now is to back what works, intervene earlier and ensure young people can see a genuine route from where they are today to where they want to be tomorrow.