Mark Fell Responds to the Milburn Review on Young People and Work

This must be the moment we rethink how young people move through education and into work. 

Mark Fell, CEO and Principal, Lakes College 

Alan Milburn’s interim review into young people and work should be a wake-up call for every part of the education and employment system. 

The headlines are stark. Nearly one million young people are now not in education, employment or training. One in eight young people are classified as NEET today, and the report warns that figure could rise to one in six within five years without urgent intervention. More worrying still, six in ten economically inactive young people have never had a job. Whilst Cumbria’s NEET figures are below the national average by 1.5%, they are still growing at an alarming rate of 14% compared to the same point last year. 

But beyond the statistics, the report tells a much deeper story about disconnection, fragmentation and lost opportunity. Importantly, Milburn dismantles the lazy narrative that young people lack aspiration or work ethic. In fact, the overwhelming majority want to work or learn. The issue is that too many are unable to navigate systems that no longer feel connected to their lives, their wellbeing or the realities of the modern labour market. 

For those of us working in further education, particularly in rural and coastal communities like West Cumbria, very little of this comes as a surprise. What the report does provide, however, is an opportunity. 

An opportunity to stop tinkering around the edges and instead begin a genuinely bold conversation about how multiple public sector agencies work together to support young people before disengagement takes hold. 

Because young people rarely become NEET overnight. The warning signs often emerge years earlier through declining attendance, anxiety, weak transitions between providers, low confidence, limited employer exposure and a lack of meaningful careers guidance. Milburn’s report rightly highlights school absence as one of the strongest predictors of future disengagement. 

And this is where the conversation must move beyond qualifications alone. If we are serious about preventing a “lost generation”, careers education and aspiration-building cannot remain isolated activities delivered at the margins of the system. They must become central to it.Too often, careers guidance still feels episodic rather than embedded. A conversation in Year 11. A careers fair once a year. A work experience placement if capacity allows. Meanwhile, the labour market has become more complex, technical pathways have expanded, and young people face increasing pressures around mental health, confidence and identity. 

In rural communities, these challenges become even more pronounced. 

In West Cumbria, we are home to globally significant industries in nuclear, engineering, defence, clean energy, construction and health. Employers need talent urgently. Yet many young people still struggle to visualise a future for themselves within those sectors. That is not because opportunity does not exist. It is because opportunity is not always visible. 

Transport barriers, geographic isolation and fragmented engagement can mean some young people simply never develop the networks, confidence or understanding needed to access pathways into employment. For many, aspiration is constrained not by ability, but by exposure. 

That is why chapter two of the Milburn review is particularly important. The report recognises that the challenge cannot be solved by education providers alone. It requires deeper collaboration between employers, local authorities, schools, colleges and wider public services to prevent disengagement earlier and create clearer transitions into work. This is where further education colleges have a unique role to play. 

Colleges sit at the intersection of education, skills, employers and community. We work across schools engagement, technical education, apprenticeships, adult learning and workforce development simultaneously. Few institutions are as connected to both people and place. 

But we now need to move beyond operating as individual organisations responding separately to the same problem. Instead, we need a genuinely joined-up regional approach to aspiration, progression and employability.  

• That means schools, colleges and employers working together around shared outcomes for young people, rather than around institutional boundaries. 

• It means careers advice becoming continuous, localised and employer-connected from an earlier age. 

• It means local authorities helping coordinate support around transport, wellbeing and progression. 

• It means employers becoming active partners in shaping experiences, not simply end-users of talent. 

• And it means recognising that preventing disengagement is far more effective than trying to re-engage young people once they have already fallen out of the system. 

David Hughes from the Association of Colleges was right to say today that there is no single silver bullet. But equally, we should not accept incrementalism when the scale of the challenge is this significant. This must now become a moment for bravery and system leadership. 

For too long, education, employment support, health and skills policy have operated in parallel rather than in partnership. Young people experience those fractures every day. 

The risk is that we continue launching disconnected initiatives while another generation slips further away from opportunity. But there is another path available.  

• One where colleges act as anchor institutions within genuinely integrated local partnerships.  

• One where employers help shape aspiration earlier.  

• One where careers guidance is not treated as an add-on, but as a core part of social mobility.  

• One where wellbeing, belonging and employability are understood as intrinsically linked. 

• Most importantly, one where young people feel that opportunity is something they can genuinely see, access and believe in. 

Further education colleges are ready to lead these conversations. But lasting progress will only happen if the wider system moves with us. Because ultimately, the question is not whether West Cumbria (and other rural areas) has opportunity. It clearly does. The question is whether we are prepared to build a system connected enough to ensure every young person can access it. 

The Milburn review should not simply become another report that briefly dominates headlines before disappearing into policy archives. It should become the starting point for meaningful change. Because regions like West Cumbria, and it’s industry, cannot afford a lost generation.