Councillors welcome progress supporting young people not in education or work

Nicholas Thomas, Local Democracy Reporter

Councillors have welcomed a local authority’s work to support young people not in education, employment or training (NEET).

A new report shows 2.5% of youngsters in the Caerphilly borough were without a post-16 placement by the end of October last year, roughly in line with the council’s performance in recent years.

Nobody was considered to have an “unknown” status at that stage, education committee chair Cllr Teresa Parry said.

Caerphilly Youth Services runs a partnership between 60 organisations aimed at securing opportunities for young people at risk of becoming NEET.

Senior youth officer Paul O’Neill told the committee the service worked year-round to support young people, rather than limiting contact to school term times.

When asked how the service tracked progress, he said young people “often try several things before one thing sticks.”

He added: “If we see there’s a pattern forming in terms of a location or a type of barrier, we’ll put measures in place to try and overcome that.

“We’ve been working with colleges to improve their assessment criteria when someone joins a programme, to make sure it’s the right one for them.”

Cllr Marina Chacon-Dawson asked whether young people were given volunteering opportunities as part of their support.

Volunteer work is “invaluable” in helping youngsters gain “skills and confidence,” replied Mr O’Neill.

A committee report warned it is becoming “increasingly challenging” to identify and engage with people who need support, owing to the Covid-19 pandemic’s effects on school attendance and growing mental health needs.

Mr O’Neill said so-called “cold-calling” visits to young people’s homes had become “an essential tool for us in terms of finding out where young people are and what their status is regarding their NEET position”.

He said: “Young people change their phone numbers all the time, so just ringing them is not always an option for us – so we in effect track them down and visit them at home.”

Cllr Carol Andrews, the cabinet member for education, thanked officers for working “very hard” to reduce the number of young people requiring support.