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CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE

True cost of education

Failure to put teenagers on the right track at school or college costs the public purse £814m each year – equivalent to £1 in every £8 spent by the Government on post-16 education and skills, research has shown.

Failure to put teenagers on the right track at school or college costs the public purse £814m each year – equivalent to £1 in every £8 spent by the Government on post-16 education and skills, research has shown.

A Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion study undertaken for the Local Government Association finds 178,100 16-18-year-olds dropped out of courses they began in 2012/13 and are at risk of becoming not in employment, education or training (NEET).

CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE

Leadership capacity – the key to social care reform

By Nik Shah | 11 December 2025

Nik Shah reflects on a survey that finds confidence in social care reform is rising, but confidence in the leadership pipeline isn’t.

CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE

Delivering health and devo

By Louise Gittins | 10 December 2025

Cheshire and Merseyside are teaming up with local partners – and with Sir Michael Marmot and the Institute of Health Equity – to show how devolution can hard...

CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE

There's no diluting diversity

By Emily Twinch | 09 December 2025

Reform UK leader Nigel Farage made it clear: he sees no need for dedicated diversity staff. Emily Twinch investigates whether councils that fell under Reform...

CHILDREN AND YOUNG PEOPLE

Counting care costs

By Ann McGauran | 27 November 2025

Councils continue to face steep rises in the cost of care in both children and adult services. As social care chiefs gather this week for the National Childr...