‘Inconsistent Inclusive Practice’ in Bristol Post-16 Settings Failing Send Students

Inclusion failure in Bristol post-16 settings impacting upon Send students staying in education

‘inconsistent Inclusive practice’ at post-16 education settings, is causing young people to fall out of education then employment.

Bristol City Council’s Head of Employment, Skills and Lifelong Learning, Jane Taylor, told Bristol councillors that the council could see ‘high non-attendance’ and ‘inconsistent inclusive practice’ in some of Bristol’s education settings.

The problems particularly escalated between January and March of the academic year when a “real spike” occurred in the numbers of students aged 16-17 leaving their courses.

“They made a successful Jump when they left school, but they didn’t last very long,” Taylor told members of Children and Young People Policy Committee.

The committee was hearing a presentation report on Neet Reduction And Youth Guarantee. NEET stands for Not in Education, Employment, or Training and applies to young people aged 16 – 24 years of age.

Taylor said there was a “sizable number of young people” that the council should be “worried about”.

According to council data, there are nearly 700 young people in the city not in education, training or employment. There are also 2,235 young people in Bristol aged 18 – 24 who are receiving unemployment benefit.

A lack of sufficient post-16 provision in ‘key localities’ is also causing issues. Additionally, there is an ‘inadequate’ number of entry level and Level 1 post-16 courses.

Young people are also impacted by ‘travel barriers’ such as ‘inadequate and expensive’ public transport.

The council said that it needs to ‘improve specialist support and post 16 pathways – including the local offer for young people with SEND…’

A report by Post 16 Manager, David Harrigan, found that the wards with the highest number of NEET numbers were in the South of the city. In a further breakdown, Hartcliffe and Withywood ward had the highest number of NEET.

The current stats for the year 2024/25 shows 97 pupils with an EHCP who were NEET in the Year 12/13 age group. The council was unaware of what three additional students in Year 13 with an EHCP were doing.

Bristol has a higher number of young people with an EHCP who are NEET compared to the city’s West of England neighbouring authorities.

When Bristol is compared to its statistic neighbours of: Reading, Coventry, Peterborough, Bristol, Portsmouth, Brighton and Hove, Derby, Leeds, Plymouth Sheffield and Southampton – the city comes in fourth place with its NEET and Current Status Unknown (CSUK) statistics.

Harrigan’s report concludes that ‘more work needs to be done to support those with SEND and SEN to transition into Post 16 education and sustain their destinations’.

It also finds that Bristol City Council needs to review the current number of young people who are in year 11 with Send. By doing so, it will highlight those students most at risk so support can be put into place over the summer.

An investigation is also needed to find out why young people with an EHCP are twice as likely to be NEET in comparison to other LAs in the West of England area.

Finally, with regard to Send, ‘conversations’ with post 16 providers need to happen to find out why ‘high level’ of learners are leaving courses at key points in the year and what can be done to support them.

The following agenda item on the same committee meetings covered the second phase of the Home To School Travel changes. One of the key pieces of work around this was cuts to post-16 transport.

Head of Children’s Commissioning, Gail Rogers presented this report to councillors. An Equality Impact Assessment for the paper found that the reduction of non-statutory transport ‘could potentially… reduce the number of CYP with SEND accessing post-16 courses and reduce employment opportunities.’

More about Gail Rogers’ Home To School Transport plans can be found here: https://chopsybaby.com/magazine/post-16-home-to-school-travel-cuts-in-bristol-come-as-young-people-struggle-to-access-post-16-education/

The NEET Reduction and Youth Guarantee Report in discussion

Who said what at Children and Young People Policy Committee on Thursday 28 August 2025

Head of Employment, Skills and Lifelong Learning, Jane Taylor presented the report saying: “So, this is an a report for information. It’s a follow-up report. And if you remember I was here maybe six months ago and this is now just giving you that update on our NEET performance.

“Obviously the disengagement of young people 16 to 21 from education, training and employment is a is a growing concern with government as it is here in Bristol. Because what’s happening here is happening everywhere. And so what the paper outlines is where have we got to and what are the issues and what are we doing about it?

“So just to summarize some of that when we look at the data we can see amongst 15 year olds in the city there’s 373 using our Family At Risk data that we can see are at risk of not making a positive um pathway at 16. And those who are 16/17.

“We’ve got nearly 700 who are not in education, training or employment.

“And we have 2,235 18 to 24 year olds who are receiving unemployment benefit.

“So that’s a sizable number of young people that we should be worried about. That’s a huge worry for them, for their families and for their communities and it’s a loss to the city and the economy.

“We’re are fourth with our statistical neighbours and the post 16 team have been doing a really really great job. David Harragan and his team.

“In June, our data is so good now, and that’s come from the improved relationships with the schools and colleges and all of the providers. We’ve got really good records of where young people are at 16/17. It’s not easy. There are over 9,000 young people in that category.

“And there’s a category called not known. If you don’t know where the young people are, it’s called not known. We got it down to 0.39 per cent. That puts us in the top quintile, top performers. But there’s a bit of a flip side to that because if you now know where they are, your NEET numbers go up.

“But I guess if your NEET numbers are low but you’ve got a high not known, that’s a much worse position to be in.

“So what are the reasons for those numbers that are not engaged? Well, we can see we can see it with our high non-attendance that there is inconsistent inclusive practice in some of our settings. And even at post 16 we know that between January and and March there was a real spike in the number of students leaving their college course. So they made a successful jump when they left school, but they didn’t last very long.

“And for those young people, there isn’t an easy way back in because courses tend to be full 2-year programmes and young people have to wait to get back into learning.

“So we need more entry level, level one, roll on roll off provision. We’ve got the perennial issue of transport in the city which is expensive and and inconsistent for young people and they also, many young people, lack the confidence to travel outside their immediate locality. And we know about the financial pressures that many families face.

“So what are we doing about this? There’s a lot of work going on across the whole directorate and that wider work is listed in the paper in relation to attendance, education welfare, the school organisational strategy and plan, the work around Send.

“But I really wanted just to mention some of that very targeted NEET reduction work that’s being managed through my service.

“So we have the Bristol Works programme, which is providing experience of work for young people in school who are at risk of becoming NEET. And that’s to get them switched into their motivation. Why they need to do well at school and why they need to be at school? Because we’re giving them a clearer line of sight into positive employment and careers of the future.

“We’ve got our first money from the Combined Authority for NEET reduction. And starting next week, we’ve got our pilot 2-year NEET reduction program.

“We’ve got some funding in there to work with 15y olds, most likely those who have not been attending or have very limited attendance. We’re going to have one-to-one coaching, that relationship work. We’re going to have workshops and we’re going to give them that experience of work and then hold their hands on their post-16 pathway.

“There’s money in there to work with the 16/17 year olds and put that re-engagement provision in place.

“And finally, the youth guarantee. How is that going? Wow. I think in the paper I said there was something like 70 odd young people engaged and I came back from my holiday and the team have been super busy over the summer. Any idea that somehow young people would disengage over the summer was no they are they’re really wanting this. And I met some some of the very excited members of the team earlier and one of them said we only had one young person who after lunch was disappearing but we’ve dealt with that.

“So the team are absolutely the A team. We’ve got the right people. We’ve got a full team now. We’ve got all the coaches in place. We’ve got some great employers giving us work tasters. And I’d really like to come back another time to give you the full picture of that because it only started in June.

“The other thing, Christine doesn’t know this yet, because Christine chairs the Youth Guarantee Board. There was an email sitting in my inbox to tell me that funding for year 2 is now confirmed. We have to go back to the Combined Authority with our ideas by the 12 of September, which isn’t long away.

“But we we have the right ideas. They’re happening in South Bristol and we just need to now roll that out across other parts of the city with high need.

Chair and Green Party Councillor Christine Townsend said: “I want to make a few comments particularly around the kind of not known in the NEETs figures.

“So when children are of school of compulsory school age and then they’re not doing any education, employment or training, we would call them children missing education (CME). So those CME figures that we’ve been tracking which is first and foremost really about the safeguarding role that we as a local authority hold for every child that is grown up in the city. So when a child becomes 16, if they’re in that position, they then became become known as a NEET child. But the not knowns would be the equivalent of the child missing education, the CME. And therefore it was from a safeguarding perspective that the not known, those children, those young people that weren’t known, we didn’t know what they were doing, was then really focused and targeted on.

“Once you are in contact with the child, you’re able or a young person, you’re better able then to engage them and obviously help them and support them back into and onto a pathway of their choosing that will hopefully be enable them to fulfill their potential.

“So that is a really, I mean, it’s a really positive thing and I have never seen the numbers of not known as low as they currently are. So and the CME figures will be coming, well they might go up but it’ll be in September, because it’s September. But we focus on CME for our first year and that made a huge difference and so we will continue to do that because it’s a safeguarding role.

“And it’s a bit more about the youth guarantee. Great news that we’ve got a second year of funding and it speaks to what Tom and Samira [Dr Tom Allport,
University of Bristol, and Samira Musse, Barton Hill Activity Club in agenda item 7 Find Your Village Migrant Research Project] were talking to us about earlier on about short bits of funding.

“So it was very deliberate that we chose South Bristol around Hartcliffe and Filwood area because those had really high numbers of children that would benefit from this. And we’ll have to see I suppose as to whether that changes or not. I suppose it’s kind of what happens really with what’s going on this year and then into next year and we make that decision a bit later down the line.

“But certainly one of the first questions when I chaired my first meeting was we’ve got a year by the time we set up we engage with the young people we do a bit of work with them and then you’re almost coming to the end of it. So and that is also not good for the staff team. Because it’s a very short period of time where staff are committing to work. So that’s a really positive thing and it gives us a bit more time to think about how we might carry on and kind of embed that.

“I suppose it is about giving all local authorities the opportunity to see what works I suppose so that they can then make it a sustainable sort of program?”

Jane Taylor said: “Yeah. And I think the what I heard was the intention is that this is here now so it’ll go beyond two years. But it is kind of, we’ve got to now show what’s working and learn from that.”

The meeting was thrown open to questions.

Councillor Kerry Bailes said: “You said that 16 and 17 year olds that aren’t in employment are claiming benefits? I didn’t write down the number you said. But do you know the breakdown of how many of them have Send and have had EHCPs? Because from a parent carer’s perspective, you know, we fight to get our children a decent education and it costs us a lot of money, time, energy and it’s really draining. And then when they finally leave school, there’s nothing. There’s this big void. You know, there’s no job. There’s a lack of opportunity.

“So, you know, especially in my ward, you know, you could have a really techie kid that, you know, doesn’t quite fit in at school and then tries their best and, you know, gets to 16, 17, you think, well, what job is out there for this techie child? And where I live, it’s scaffolding and things like that, you know, and it’s the lack of opportunity. and for a child to then go and find something techie that they enjoy doing in a job.

“And there’s also a transport barrier. Because we might have improved the buses this year, but generally since my ward was built in the 1950s, we haven’t had great bus services. And it’s also about profiling and things like that. So if even at work experience level I’ve been working with Merchants Academy and the university on a reverse work experience package because even at at that stage when they’re just thinking about options, they find it really difficult to get work placements. And that’s just one week in their life they have to go and find a work experience placement. And we’ve got hundreds and hundreds of businesses across the that could and should step up, but quite often they don’t.

“Sometimes it’s a case of, you know, they have a policy in place where they have to be 18. Well, if they could take them for one day or just a morning or just an afternoon, you know, they they could step up. You know, you don’t have to do a full week just in one setting.

“You know, work experience can be lots of things. So, I think we really really need to to look at that. But, yeah, just, you know, kids in my ward don’t ever get the opportunity.”

Jane Taylor said: “Engaging young people with Special Educational Needs and Disabled young people is an absolute priority of ours. And we’ve been leading the charge at a regional level through our We Work For Everyone programme and also Bristol Works that is providing this experience work. We’ve pushed and pushed where we can to get funding so that we are providing that service in special schools and with young people within EHCP in mainstream settings as well.

“It’s not enough but we are keeping the pressure on in terms of raising that issue with the Combined Authority.

“And I think what we’ve realized this year when we look at the numbers Post-19 with an with an EHCP we could see a higher NEET level growing. We’re very concerned.

“So what we’ve agreed to do is to sit down with our Send colleagues with the post 16 team and also our post 19 community learning team and employment support and basically work down every single person with an EHCP to make sure they’ve got a plan and an offer.

“And what I think has happened is there’s been such a focus on plans ceasing, but that doesn’t necessarily mean there’s a good progression. So, we are going to look at even those that have a ceased plan. That’s not enough information for me. I want to know exactly where they’re going post 16, post 19, and also post 25.

“Because just cos it finishes at 25, it’s not okay that that young person, they’re still a young person, goes back to being at home, not engaged. So we’re just starting that casework approach. But I’m hoping that will result in perhaps more um hand-holding into proper education, training and employment outcomes.

“I think I talked about the work experience. We’ve got that in our sights. Here in the council we offer a week of work experience and the works team only prioritises young people who are at risk of not getting that opportunity.

“When young people with additional needs come and they come and join my team, I always get to sit down with them as part of their week of work experience. And they they teach me a lot.

“I had a young man this summer and we sat together in a room up here and he’d been doing some work with the team and I said so how how are you feeling about working here at the college? And he said sorry at the council and he said oh no, no, no, I wouldn’t work here and I said why not? I said what was your impression when you walked into this building? He said, “Well,” he said, “It’s a bit basic, isn’t it?” And yeah, we got to grips that this young man would like to work outside. And I told him a lot about the parks department and we made a link there.

“So that work experience is really key and we’ve got a really important role here in the council to contribute to that. And then talk to other employers about showing them the way.”

Christine Townsend said: “I’d just like to take up the the transport point. well it’s WECA is needing to solve that. And it’s about understanding, yes it’s about the bus service, but it’s also about enabling children to have the confidence to use such buses and to be able to navigate their city. And what will come onto the home school transport. So the the travel training is something that has been invested and will continue to be invested in and become much more embedded within the the preparation work that is done for children that have EHCPs.

“So that the skills that are needed and the confidence that are needed, those children will need in order to get through those barriers and get on public transport is something that they’ll be much they will hopefully be much better able to do because they’ll be ready to do that.

“I can’t quote on the top of my head some changes and additional services that have gone in for buses. Yhat would have to go to the transport committee. But it is because we’re taking a how does your committee impact people approach, that is, and that’s we’re talking about it’s council departments that have not worked in that way. So it is about changing cultures, about changing the way that people think. And that is coming through. And that was something that we will continue to do. But getting new bus services of course are great. I mean, I’m aware that there’s one more that comes through my ward. What I don’t do is look to see where it comes from necessarily because I trust that WECA and those that are working within those transport teams at the regional level have looked at analysed and have put those buses on to best suit what people are saying that they need.

“So that would be I think what I would say about about the transport issue.”

Councillor Katja Hornchen said: “I was interested to see what you said about motivation because as a secondary school teacher, that’s probably one of the hardest things to have with students if they’re not motivated to work. And some of the work I have to say is very boring when you’re doing GCSEs. I’m sorry I have to say that publicly, but it is. But if you’re motivated, if you’re motivated for something after that, then you will put through with the boringness and the hard work of it. If you’re not motivated, why would you do it? And sometimes, some of the kids, I can’t say they’re going to be NEET or not because I haven’t seen the whole background picture, but you can sort of get an idea. They’re often their life experience is very small. They don’t they don’t leave their area as you said or very little. So again, one of the things is buses, the others is also giving them the confidence and that’s where youth and playwork used to come in. To give them the confidence to go and see things. So when you teach one school to another, because I taught lots of different schools, you very quickly pick up who’s been around and seen things and how they can relate it to the work that they’re doing, which makes it much more interesting at school, and who can’t. Especially if you’re doing design technology.

“But the other one is that the that is a very strong need is the work experience. And I know from my own experience from my own child that the work experience utterly failed him. And we tried really hard but I just did not have the ,as a parent, did not know anybody that worked in the – he is a computer scientist – in worked in that field that they could give him a week’s work. And it wasn’t because he wasn’t keen to do it but nobody wanted to take him and it was really horrid it was horrid to watch because of his extra needs that he had. And and once they took him the one company they took him he finished all their work in a day. Which just goes to show that we have this idea of what that person is like, but actually they’re not like that at all. It’s just they have some little obstacles that you have to get over, like not being too many people in a kitchen and things like that. And once those things are taken care of, and they’re easily taken care of, he’s fine.

“The other thing I loved which is not much of a question, is when you wrote the career options that they’re not sure that that’s obviously one of the reasons I presume that they’re not going into things. But I looked at the lists of things that they wanted to be and I was really interested in that because I didn’t see anywhere an influencer and I know lots of kids that want to be influencers on YouTube or Tik Tok or whatever the latest platform.

“And actually, you laugh at that, but actually there’s a lot of skills in that that can be used in sales in all sorts of things. It’s not, a you know, we just see this little narrow thing, but actually because I remember on the playground I took people in to do work experience, young people at that age group, And they were often in that sort of and they weren’t going to be play workers or even work with young people but they loved doing the gardening they liked doing the building. They even helped clean. They got really enthusiastic into that and then they all came up afterwards and said, “Gosh, it’s we’re hard working with children.” I didn’t realise. Cos there were often children that used to be children and on the playground.

“But so I think sometimes thinking out of the box on work experience then like you said they came into the office even if they might never become a work in the council, but give them that experience of being somewhere else and yeah it’s enormous for them. It really is.”

Jane Taylor said: “And there are some fantastic businesses in the city. The Works team told me about one young man whose attendance was a bit flaky. He was in alternative provision, so he’d not settled in a mainstream school. And he was, they found him a place in BMW up at Cribbs Causeway, you know, posh swanky car seller with Supra Minis and this lad was just his eyes were just like saucers and he absolutely loved being there. And the company were quite kind of well if we can mold this young man, this could be a perfect salesperson and once he got back to his setting, he had lots to say and was excited.

“So that’s it. We’re unlocking it and but it is about bringing the employers to this work.”

Councillor Katja Hornchen said: “Getting the employers to go out of the think out of the box. So, I had one young girl that was totally interested in animals and then they gave her an assistant that hated animals and I was like, “How’s that work?” And dog training and working. She would have shovelled and whatever ’cause she loved the animals so much, but she wouldn’t have done anything else. So, that kind of get thinking out of the box is really important. So I’m very happy to hear that that sort of thing. It seems to be going on and and working that you’re working on individuals as well because they are very individual everyone.”

Councillor Susan Kollar said: “So I’m not sure if this is a conflict of interest. In terms of the youth guarantee. Obviously the youth guarantee in Bristol in South Bristol was it Hartcliffe and Withywood Ventures? Used to be at the Gatehouse Centre? Where I was teaching until recently. And, I had a firsthand experience of what was going on in the current cohort at the Gatehouse Centre.

“Basically, we had somebody who was working there who was unfortunately not able to attend and they rapidly looked for somebody to stand in and support the class. And because I’m not teaching at the moment because it’s school holidays, I was asked if I would step in. Oh wow. And work with this group for the day. And I had such a good day. They were such, it was just absolutely brilliant.

“The cohort that they’ve got it there at the moment, they were all engaging together. They were talking amongst themselves. They went to lunch together. And to see active 16, 17 year olds coming together engaging and doing the work and working together as a group was just absolutely brilliant. So,mI think for me, I don’t know how it’s always going to work with different cohorts, different kids come in, different mannerisms. But just to kind of have that kind of shining example and I had a really good day supporting those kids.

“It’s not much of a conflict because of I have actually moved on in jobs. But I just thought I had I had a really good day. It was just a fluky thing. Fluky thing. I just happened to be in work. They needed somebody and as a kind of a teacher they asked me to help.”

Jane Taylor said: “So that’s exactly why we’re working in partnership with HWV [Hartcliffe & Withywood Ventures] which is embedded in Hartcliffe and HWV are also working hand in hand with The Park in Knowle West. So because those are the two areas we’re really concerned about. So it’s fantastic that you were able to get that insight.”

Green Councillor Cara Lavan said: “First of all, obviously it’s great that you’re tracking down the children who’ve been outside the system. That’s a bold move as well because obviously you risk pushing up the headline figure of how many children are outside of education and employment. So, I really applaud that that you’re going really looking for the most vulnerable children even at the risk of giving headline figures that NEET figures have gone up. So that’s really great and and the extent and the breadth of the work you’re doing is you know reaching out to head teachers and understanding all the barriers is also really really was really good to read about.

“And it’s good that WECA are also sending additional funding for this. I’m sure there’s probably still a need for funding because there’s such a big large cohort of these children. I wondered if you are talking to the council’s procurement teams because of our and interacting with social value because 20 per cent of every contract that Bristol City Council issues over £100,000 has to go on social value. And this is absolutely rich area for big companies taking council contracts to be stepping up and playing their part and I just wondered if you have a system for that or if there’s more the council or the committee can do to integrate you with procurement?”

Jane Taylor said: “We’ve got into the social value theme by working very closely with our Growth and Regeneration Directorate. And we actually managed to amend the planning system. So now every major development in the city has to pay into a levy. It’s only a small contribution. This is where it’s a million pound development which helps us pay the salary of someone that will then work with the developer on an employment and skills plan.

“And that work has resulted in some great placements for young people, including young people on the youth guarantee. So that works. It’s that social value and we realize that some of those developers whilst they might be very committed, they they haven’t got the way into the system or the programmes to to know what was the best way to achieve the targets they were signing up to.

“And as a result of that program which is called Building Bristol, we now are the commissioning and procurement team for the council has asked us to take a lead on that approach with all major contracts. So we’re just having a look at that and how we might help those suppliers do the same.

“So we got a bit of experience and we’re really pleased to do more.”

Christine Townsend said: “Of course the work that Jane’s team is doing also fits in with the transition age group which is also that kind of, we’re thinking and looking at what is going on with transition for our young people that do the pathways need to be tightened? Do we how, is it that those different departments, so it’s the education department, the children’s services, the adult social care, the economy and skills board, how are they knitting together to make sure that that group of young people as they turn into early adulthood are best supported.”

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