Blackpool was once Britain’s most popular seaside destination, famed for its dazzling nightlife, iconic ballroom and Pleasure Beach amusement park.

But after years of decline, the Lancashire seaside town is now increasingly known for its struggles with poverty. It has the highest number of people in their twenties and thirties claiming universal credit – the main jobseekers’ benefit – and life expectancy trails significantly below the England average. 

More than one in five youngsters in the town are classed as “not in education, employment or training” – or Neet – the highest rate of any urban area in England, according to research by the Centre for Cities.

Blackpool is now a “combination of a tourist economy and a welfare economy”, said Alun Francis, CEO of Blackpool and The Fylde College and outgoing chair of the Social Mobility Commission.

As fewer people go there on holiday, old guest houses have turned into cheap rental properties which attract vulnerable families. 

The youngsters more likely to end up on benefits

This, Francis told The i Paper during a visit to Blackpool college, is contributing to a generation of young people growing up with housing insecurity and poverty who are more likely to end up out of work and on benefits. 

Labour grandee Alan Milburn is preparing to publish a landmark review to overhaul the welfare system to get young people off benefits and into work. It is understood to include an employment support package, but also potential cuts to eligibility of key benefits for young people and sanctions for those who do not accept help.

But there’s also another unexpected factor at play: home-schooling.

Simon Hughes, executive principal of Blackpool and The Fylde College, said a “rapid rise” in mental health conditions among young people since the Covid-19 pandemic has left many “struggling to get into school”. 

He said parents may decide to pull their children out of school as they are unable to afford sanctions for missing lessons, or because they feel their child’s special educational needs are not being met.

“For parents in that situation, a perceived easier route can be going down the elected home-education route,” he said.

Hughes said that while this solves the “short-term problem”, it raises questions about the level of education young people are getting, sparks potential safeguarding issues and can worsen feelings of anxiety and isolation. 

“In many ways, you could see it as a downward spiral rather than a positive move with the elected home education,” he added. 

The town has one of the highest rates of elective home education in England, with 3.1 children in every 100, according to data from the Department for Education (DfE). Just the Isle of Wight has a higher rate, at 4.1 per cent. 

The number of Blackpool children being home-educated has almost doubled from 350 (1.8 per cent) in the 2022-23 autumn term, to 620 (3.1 per cent) in the same period this academic year.

Sienna, a 16-year-old student at Blackpool and The Fylde College, said she was home-educated after struggling with her mental health.

She said: “My mental health was so bad in high school. I had to see therapists and everything, and I’ve come to college and I’m fine. I love it. I wake up every day and I just want to come into college.”

Sienna is now studying travel and tourism to become an air hostess. She currently works in a restaurant but said she is one of the lucky ones who have been able to find work locally. 

“It is really hard to find a job,” she said. “I know a lot of girls have come into my work asking for jobs, and I feel so bad having to turn them away, and they’re telling me they’ve gone everywhere, and no one’s taking on 16-year-olds.”

Desire, another 16-year-old student studying travel and tourism, said she came to the college to complete her maths and English GCSEs as she was home-schooled “for quite a while” after struggling with her friendship group. She is now working towards her lifelong goal of becoming part of a cabin crew. 

“I hadn’t been in a school environment or anything like that in about two years, so it was a big change for me,” she said.

Desire said the college helps students find jobs, but she believes young people would benefit from more work experience opportunities to help them transition into a career when they leave. 

Attendance fines ‘can make parents criminals’

Sue Crosbie, who works on the college’s transition team to support young people at risk of becoming Neet, said there has been a “big increase” in the number of home-educated pupils recently. 

“They’re already out of the pattern of attending education,” she said, adding that the college is “really focused” on providing support including careers guidance and events they may have missed in formal education. 

Hughes added that pupils are often deregistered from school because “there are sanctions totting up” for non-attendance. He said these can lead to fines that parents cannot afford and even legal action “where ultimately parents can become criminals”.

“It’s a lifestyle choice, and some kids probably do get a great home education. I think that’d be very, very small in Blackpool,” he added. 

Councillor Kath Benson, cabinet member for young people and aspiration on Blackpool Council, said while home-education numbers in Blackpool are high, the increase has slowed.

She insisted only a “small proportion” are related to sanctions, with the majority leaving school due to dissatisfaction, mental health problems and unmet special educational needs.

But Benson added that while home-schooling is right for some, she fears many are “not getting a suitable education at home”.

Neet solutions ‘must start in primary school’

Under Government plans expected next year, councils will be required to keep compulsory ‘children not in school’ registers. Additional checks will also be carried out before vulnerable children can be taken out of school.

But Benson called for stronger laws to “stop parents removing their children to be home-educated” without a “very good reason”.

Hughes said early interventions are needed from primary school to stop young people from becoming Neet, with better mental health support, careers advice, real-world experience with employers and a more vocational curriculum. The majority of Neets aged 18 or above claim benefits, data shows.

The college staff and students are quick to defend their home town, which still boasts a successful tourist economy as well as local regeneration to provide nicer homes and education initiatives to open up more opportunities for young people.

“There’s a perception that everything in the town is dismal, and that’s just not true,” said Francis. But it is impossible to ignore the wider socio-economic issues.

He said Blackpool’s problems are “partly imported” as many people who settle in the town are already struggling, including with alcohol or drug addiction, family breakdown or they have been in prison.

As tourism has diminished in coastal towns, old hotels and guest houses offer guaranteed income via housing benefits for landlords to rent out “quite cheaply to people on welfare who often are in quite vulnerable positions”, he added.

“Some students come from families that have really not got an awful lot of money, not an awful lot of opportunity,” he said. “Other students will come from families where nobody’s been able to work.”

“It does feel to me like the welfare system is really dysfunctional for young people and for adults,” Francis said. “If we ignore the fact that adults have got very low levels of education, why are we expecting their children to do better when we know there’s a very direct correlation?”

The DfE has been contacted for comment.