Gloucestershire County Council: Working with young people at risk of becoming not in education, employment or training

Gloucestershire have implemented a transition panel process at Year 11 to target support for those schools that have the greatest percentage of students at risk of becoming NEET. This is a collaborative approach, which takes place throughout the academic year, involving schools, post-16 providers and support services to target interventions. The council commissions 'Transition Chat', which provides holistic support to those most at risk. Based around a youth work approach, they provide a trusted adult and positive role model that a young person might be missing in their life, to work on identifying and helping to overcome their barriers.

The panel process was implemented to target those most at risk of becoming NEET.  Whilst NEET numbers in the county compare favourably with national trends, this was identified as a priority area. The impact of the pandemic was significant, with the numbers at risk of NEET escalating since 2020 with signs of a plateau only just emerging.

A Risk of NEET Indicator (RONI) report is run using council held data at the end of Year 10 to identify key NEET risk indicators, such as poor attendance or exclusions, which are accumulated to give each student a raw RONI score.  The RONI score determines the student’s initial Red-Amber-Green (RAG) rating.

Panel meetings are held with key schools through Year 11 to discuss the at-risk cohort and are led by the council. Panels are targeted at mainstream schools with significant numbers of NEET, along with all alternative and special schools. The panels are held once a term and are conducted virtually.

An initial panel is held in the autumn, which is a small meeting between the school, council and the council commissioned transition support provider. This panel’s purpose is to review the initial RAG rating and for the school to moderate the rating using their knowledge of the student as follows:

Early referrals are made at this panel to the transition support programme for those considered to be at high risk if appropriate.

The subsequent spring and summer panels are wider meetings including representation from the further education colleges and independent providers. The purpose of the meetings is to signpost schools to suitable post-16 provision, make the intended destination provider aware of the learner’s needs and support required and to agree additional actions that can assist learners to make a successful transition. 

The council commissions Transition Chat, a programme developed to work with young people in Year 11 across the county who are at risk of becoming NEET following their secondary school education. These young people usually have a variety of barriers or challenges stopping them progressing to the next step in education and they have been identified as highly likely to become NEET without significant intervention.

Transition Chat provides holistic support based around a youth work approach; providing a trusted adult and positive role model that a young person might be missing in their life, to work on identifying and helping to overcome their barriers.

How the Programme Works

Using government published data, the following is a comparison of the outcomes for Year 11 leaving in 2017/18, before the panel process was implemented, to Year 11 leaving in 2019/20, when the panel process was rolled out. 

Transition Chat is consistently seeing 80 per cent of referrals successfully transition into post-16 education.

The council have invested in a permanent role to coordinate the panel process alongside permanent funding for the Transition Chat programme.

Collaboration between the schools, post-16 providers, support services and the council must be focused on the joint goal of supporting each young person into post-16 education. Communication must be open and honest and any competition between providers put to one side. 

Referrals into support can be slowed by gaining parental consent and competing demands on school staff. Workshops have been implemented with target students to build a direct relationship and work towards student self-referral into Transition Chat.