UKHospitality responds to new NEET figures

UKHospitality has responded to the Office for National Statistics’ latest figures regarding the proportion of 16- to 24-year-olds in the UK who are not in education, employment or training (NEET). The number who were NEET in April to June 2026 was 981,000, which is down by 30,000 on the previous quarter – though still 30,000 up on a year ago.

‘Drive job creation’
Allen Simpson, chief executive of UKHospitality, said: “The rise in the number of NEETs year-on-year reinforces the urgent need to stimulate the job market for young people. The quickest and easiest way to do that is to reduce the cost of employment, which will drive job creation and opportunities for young people.

“Hospitality is one of the only sectors that has the ability to create those jobs in every postcode, but the damage of government policy in the past two years has resulted in hospitality shedding 100,000 jobs. Almost £5bn in additional costs over the past year and a skills levy that bars hospitality from using funds from training its staff are all barriers that need to be solved.

“I’m encouraged by the actions of the new government to back hospitality, and I hope that it will continue to put right those wrongs, in particular through reducing the cost of employment. Despite year-on-year growth, the drop in NEETs in the last quarter suggests this could be the start of a downward trend, and I look forward to working with the government to make this a sustained and permanent reduction.”

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