Marc Bolland to advise on youth jobs as NEET crisis deepens

The government turned to former Marks & Spencer chief executive Marc Bolland to help tackle a youth jobs crisis that ministers say is too deep for one policy alone. His job is to convene chief executives across sectors and help deliver the Youth Guarantee, as officials try to answer a structural problem that now reaches well beyond Whitehall.

Nearly one million young people are not in education, employment or training, a group the government says is large enough to fill Wembley Stadium more than 10 times over. The Office for National Statistics estimated 1,012,000 people aged 16 to 24 were NEET in January to March 2026, equal to 13.5% of all people in that age group. The ONS also warned that its labour market estimates can be volatile, urging caution over short-term changes.

The scale of the damage is not only numerical. The Alan Milburn review said unemployment in young adulthood can leave lifelong scars, including lost confidence, lost opportunity and, for some, more than £1m in lost earnings. It also said time spent unemployed before the age of 23 has been linked to lower wages even two decades later, underlining why ministers are now pressing business leaders to play a bigger role in delivery rather than waiting for schools or jobcentres to fix the problem alone.

The urgency is reinforced by wider labour market data. The Social Mobility Commission said youth unemployment reached 16% of economically active 16 to 24-year-olds in 2024, up from 13% in 2023 and the highest rate since 2020. The government said apprenticeship starts among young people have fallen 40% over the past decade, while almost one million young people are not earning or learning, up by 248,000 between 2021 and 2024.

Ministers are pairing Bolland’s appointment with a £1 billion drive aimed at unlocking 200,000 jobs and apprenticeships. The package includes new foundation apprenticeships in hospitality and retail, plus payments of up to £2,000 for employers who take on and support 16 to 21-year-olds. The government has already framed the issue as the greatest employment challenge for a generation, and the question now is whether business-led reform can break a cycle of skills gaps, regional inequality, employer caution and young people drifting out of work and learning.