Somerset Council loses track of young people after firm folds

Summarised from 2 outlets · Updated 12 Oct, 06:18 · Archive

Somerset Council cannot account for how many young people are not in education, employment or training after Careers South West, the firm contracted to track them, folded in spring 2025. The council has a legal duty to monitor the number of such young people, known as NEETs, after they leave full-time education at 16 or 18. Careers South West was jointly owned by councils in Cornwall, Devon, Plymouth and Torbay, and the work has now been brought back in-house.

The council's post-16 advisor, Julie Young, told the children and education scrutiny committee on 21 September that the current situation was not where the council wanted to be. Due to flaws in Careers South West's methodology, only around one in 40 young people were directly contacted, meaning the actual number of NEETs may be substantially different from the recorded figures. The most recent data showed a steep rise in NEETs in Somerset at the time the firm collapsed.

How it is being reported

• Somerset Council 'doesn't know' how many young people are not in school or workCareers South West failed to provide Somerset Council with sufficient data on young people when it folded in the spring of 2025Bridgwater Mercury · 12 Oct, 05:00
• Somerset Council 'doesn't know' how many young people are not in school or workCareers South West failed to provide Somerset Council with sufficient data on young people when it folded in the spring of 2025Somerset County Gazette · 12 Oct, 05:00

In this story: Somerset Council · Careers South West · Somerset · Cornwall · Devon · Plymouth · Torbay

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