The difference between a 5% employment rate and a 70% employment rate for some groups a special needs internships.
Alan Milburn, former cabinet minister and chair of the Social Mobility Commission has called for specialist internships for young people with special educational needs and disabilities (SEND). He wants these to be put on “turbocharge” to fix the Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEETs) crisis among young people.
Social Mobility Commission
The number of 16-24 year olds that are NEET is now over a million according to the ONS, a problem that Milburn’s Social Mobility Commission has been tasked with finding solutions to.
Their initial 200 page report set out the problems faced by young people, with a further report later this year setting out recommendations to Government as to how to alleviate the NEET problem.
Milburn previously states that the NEET problem has been decades in the making. Citing declines over the last decade in low and medium skilled jobs, Saturday jobs, roles in hospitality, apprenticeship starts and entry level jobs he paints a bleak picture for young people looking for work. All this before any impact from the “AI revolution” is felt.
Special Needs Internships
The Social Mobility Commission will recommend expanding supported internships for 16-24 year olds with Education, Health and Care Plans (EHCPs).
Employers with participating schemes include the NHS, Asda and Amazon.
A evaluation conducted by the Department of Education concluded that 48% of supported interns entered paid work with some providers achieving rates of 70%.
Currently there around 4,500 supported internships in England. Milburn pointed out that due to a lack of capacity, access to these internships varies between regions. He said:
“Supported internships have got such an effective track record. With the best ones around 70% of the people on them end up in paid employment.”
“In my view we have to turbocharge support – and at the moment the system is not set up to do that.”
Support from Primary School
Milburn also said that his review will consider intervention as early as in Primary School, to identify children at risk of becoming NEET when they leave the education system.
“The warning signs are there from a very early, early age. You know, frankly from preschool.”
“Primary schools should be identifying children who are at risk of being Neet.”
He did not speculate how a major expansion of supported internships should be funded.
His final recommendations are expected in autumn 2026.
Final Thought
Bridging the gap between education and work and establishing habits that could last young people a lifetime are at the heart of these proposals.
Given the success of some schemes supporting special needs internships, and the current paltry number of spaces (4,500) available for the 1 million NEETs, they seem like a good investment for a Government eager to decrease youth unemployment and the welfare bill.
However, as with any expansion it will be essential to maintain quality. It’s clear that these schemes have variable success at getting NEETs into immediate employment and although that is not the only metric of success, any Chancellor investing money in these schemes will want to see it reflected in the welfare bill.
The successes of these schemes also bring to mind the ‘nudge theory’ ideas of the early Cameron term. Setting sensible defaults, and entrenching useful habits rather than reinforcing the cliff edge ending to structured education could be something that Government can, and would be good at supporting.
Only time will tell whether it will reduce youth unemployment, or reduce it enough to please the electorate.
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