David Finch, assistant director in the Healthy Lives Team at The Health Foundation, said: ‘As we found in our analysis, ensuring that young people can access timely support will be essential if we want to prevent these early setbacks from turning into long‑term disadvantage.'

The ONS analysis, which was derived from 2021 census data, found around one in eight females (12.9%) and one in seven males (14.1%) aged 16 to 24 years in England were NEET.

Unemployment was the leading cause (females 34.2%, males 50.2%) followed by being economically inactive due to long-term sickness or disability (females 11.4%, males 13.3%), looking after family or home (females 28.0%, males 6.0%), or other reasons (females 26.4%, males 30.5%).

Almost two in five young people who provided 50 or more hours of unpaid care per week were NEET (females 39.9%, males 38.7%), compared with around one in eight young people who provided no care (females 12.6%, males 13.7%).

Young people who were NEET were three times more likely to have had a past hospitalisation for chronic mental health and behavioural conditions (females 8.3%, males 3.2%), compared with those who were in education, employment, or training (females 2.7%, males 1.3%).

Over five times as many females in the NEET population (31.9%) had experienced a birth, compared with those who were in education, employment, or training (5.8%).

Young people with SEND and/or a disability had a higher prevalence of being NEET (females 16.2%, males 18.7%) than those who did not (females 7.6%, males 8.8%).

Young people eligible for free school meals had a higher prevalence of being NEET (females 16.1%, males 19.2%) when compared with those who were not (females 6.9%, males 8.9%).

Young people who were NEET were nearly eight times higher for females (33.6%), and just under 3.5 times higher for males (28.5%) to never be employed in the four years following the census than those in education, employment, or training (females 4.4%, males 8.3%).