NEET Trends Analysis (2025 Q3): ‘Hidden’ NEETs

Overview

The Office for National Statistics’ (ONS) latest data shows that the total number of young people not in employment, education or training (NEET) across the UK is 946,000.

NEET levels remain stubbornly high, particularly compared to four years ago when the rate was 10.3% and 231,000 fewer young people were NEET.

We analyse ONS data in more detail to explore NEET trends with a focus on better understanding the ‘Hidden NEET’ challenge.

This summary presents the insights from our analysis.

Key findings

‘Hidden NEET’ young people are those who are unemployed or economically inactive but not receiving any state benefits or tax credits and who are not in full time education. Being “hidden” as a NEET young person makes it harder to access statutory support to move into work or learning because you are less visible to government services, including employment support delivered largely through the welfare system.

Further insights:

• We estimate that half (50.2%) of the current NEET population aged 18 to 24 are ‘hidden’ in the UK – equivalent to roughly 486,000 young people.
• Young people from Asian or Asian British backgrounds have the highest ‘hidden’ NEET rate at 75.5%, followed by Black young people at 61.8%. White young people have the lowest rate at 43.0%, and are the only group that falls below the overall average of 50.2%.
• For those NEET young people who have a disability, 25.4% are ‘hidden’.

Data sources

We have analysed data from the Labour Force Survey and Three-Year Pooled Annual Population Survey from the Office for National Statistics.