However, the number in town is still low compared to the national and regional figures.
More alarmingly, there has been a spike in the number and proportion of youngsters where the council doesn’t know whether they are in work, training, education or not – and that has caused councillors significant concerns.
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Swindon Borough Council’s head of skills and education partnerships, Sally Burnett, told councillors on the Build a Fairer Swindon policy committee: “In January this year, there were 178 young people, three per cent, who were NEET. That compares to a 3.6 per cent rate in our statistical neighbours, 3.5 per cent nationally and 3.9 per cent in the South West.”
The figures she presented to the committee show that even three per cent is a jump from the previous three years, when they were 1.6 per cent in 2022, 1.8 per cent in 2023 and 2.7 per cent in March 2024.
It’s the jump in ‘Not Knowns’ – the young people whose work or education status is unknown to the council, that is causing most concern.
In the previous three years, that figure was between six and 6.5 per cent, but in January this year, that had jumped to 8.7 per cent – 523 young people.
Ms Burnett said: “The ‘Not Knowns’ are when we can’t ‘confirm the destination’ of young people leaving school at year 11.
“One of the reasons was the introduction of a new IT system – there were several glitches and issues, and that has caused the number of ‘not knowns’ to increase.”
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She added: “We are continuing to work to reduce those numbers, we have a small team, and we’ve recently increased to five staff and we’re making the process of ‘confirming the destination’ more efficient because that’s what’s needed to be able to support NEETs better.”
Councillor Kevin Parry was very concerned by the increase in those whose status was unknown to the council: “This is a massive spoke and it’s in the wrong direction. And it’s local, not national.
“I’m concerned that this is caused by a new IT system – this shouldn’t have happened.”
Chairman of the committee, Councillor Abdul Aziz was also worried. He said: “You’re working with school at Year 10 and 11 – but is that early enough? Should you be working to identify those at risk in Year Nine?”
Ms Burnett agreed to conduct a detailed investigation into the ‘Not Knowns’ and bring a report back to the committee at a later date.
