Much about Blackpool has been in decline for years. People living in this Lancashire seaside town have seen their life expectancy fall to the lowest level of any place in England. Labour hasn’t held its annual political conference here since 2022. Until very recently, there were no deckchairs on the beach because the council sold them off in 2014.

One statistic, however, has been going up: unemployment, particularly among 16-24-year-olds.

Nearly one in four young people in this age bracket here are what’s known as Neet – not in education, employment or training – according to the interim report of Labour’s youth unemployment tsar, Alan Milburn.

Blackpool has a Neet rate of 7.6 per cent, compared to a national average in England of 3.4 per cent.

Milburn tells me he was moved by what he saw in Blackpool, describing the scale of youth inactivity there as “a disaster zone for young people that demands urgent national attention.”

So, what has gone so wrong here in the north-west?

‘It can mess up your whole life’

At the Jobcentre Plus just a few streets behind the iconic Blackpool Illuminations, Tracy, a Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) youth specialist job coach, is speaking to a young woman named Kim. Both did not want to give their surnames.

Kim, 19, has not been in education or work since she left school at 16, except for a brief stint waitressing in a pub. She and her mum moved to Blackpool from York when she was a teenager.

One reason that Blackpool’s vital statistical signs appear so worrying is the fact that thousands of people move here from other parts of the country every year.

Often, lower-income households – who may face a host of socioeconomic challenges – are attracted by the fact that, relative to other towns and cities, housing is still relatively cheap to rent here (though rents are starting to rise, and quickly too).

Kim struggled at school, was badly bullied, and ultimately left without sitting her GCSEs – which she believes has contributed to her becoming Neet.

“It’s not as easy as [just telling young people] to get a job and work harder,” Kim says. “If something messes up just once, it can mess up your whole career or life… but I do believe we can all get there if we try and never give up.”

If a young person is Neet for a prolonged period in early adulthood, studies from University College London show that they are six times more likely to be unemployed in their 30s and 40s compared to their peers who were never Neet.

The research is clear: being Neet has a scarring effect on a young person’s future.

Kim dreams of owning her own beauty salon. With Tracy’s support, she is now about to start college, where she will do a Maths and English qualification and study beauty.

This soon-to-be-former Neet is “really excited” and credits the job centre with “speaking to her about everything”, including what her “plan was for her life, not just benefits”.

Kim says she was nervous about talking to a work coach, but has left with “a plan for next steps” and “the feeling that someone cared if she was OK”.

Both Kim and Beni receive universal credit because they are unemployed and looking for work; they both also receive the housing element of universal credit (housing benefit) to help with their rent.

Tracy, who has been a DWP work coach for nearly a decade, says the majority of her job with Neets is “confidence-building” and pointing them in the right direction of training schemes which will, ultimately, hopefully lead to a job.

Similarly, 18-year-old Beni has been struggling since leaving school at 16.

“I think I’ve applied for over 100 jobs since January,” he says. “But often I don’t even hear back.”

For Tracy, a “lack of confidence” is one of the biggest issues the Neets she supports – like Kim and Beni – suffer from.

“I think Covid was massive for this generation… they’ve missed out on so much, playing out on the streets with friends and gaining their confidence. I do also think there’s too much time spent on gaming machines or phones.”

Some job search engines are also hindering young people, Tracy says, equating applications on those sites to throwing a CV “into a black hole” because not all sites have the correct listings on them. She encourages all of the people she supports to apply directly to the company instead and talks Beni through this while demonstrating on her desktop.

Tracy acknowledges that these issues are “nationwide” but, more unique to Blackpool, she warns, are the challenging “backgrounds” that young people have. “This can be anything from their family circumstances – such as deprivation or being in care – to living conditions,” she says.

Blackpool’s future in the balance

Blackpool is home to a higher-than-average number of vulnerable young people in care and, therefore, care leavers aged 18 and above. One in every 52 children in Blackpool is in care, compared with one in 140 across England. High child poverty rates are thought to be a key driver behind this.

As part of his research into the struggles of young Neets, of which there are now just under one million across the country, Milburn has become interested in a localised approach.

The Labour grandee is due to give his final recommendations on how to help young people not in education, employment or training (Neet) this autumn.

The i Paper understands that one idea being mulled over is giving tens of thousands of vulnerable young people – including care leavers and teen parents – “priority access” to cash payments and training to help them into work. This sort of targeted support would have a particularly profound effect in Blackpool.

The cash support being considered for the most vulnerable 16-to-24-year-old Neets could come in the form of a taxpayer-funded benefit, grant or subsidy. This would be an option if the Government accepts Milburn’s recommendations.

Blackpool is already home to a national youth unemployment pilot scheme, the Jobs Guarantee, which has meant work coaches like Tracy can direct Neets to government-backed jobs for six months with employers like Northern Rail and Blackpool Pleasure Beach.

There was also a summer “bootcamp” aimed at training Neets in how to use AI effectively. The council has also opened a “youth hub” called “Platform“, which offers services including CV-writing workshops and interviewing training in partnership with local colleges.

Similar “youth hubs” are found in the Netherlands, the country with the lowest Neet rate in Europe. A model which has already piqued the interest of Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden, who will ultimately decide whether to accept Milburn’s recommendations.

For now, the future of Blackpool’s young people hangs in the balance.

Will targeted support be made more available for young people most in need – care leavers and teen parents? Or those without family members with connections, like Kim and Beni? Or, as is often rumoured, will they see some of their benefits cut in a crackdown on cash support payments for conditions like anxiety?

Westminster, Tracy says, “is fully aware” of the situation in Blackpool. But she also acknowledges that there will always be challenges here because many jobs are seasonal.

“We also need employers to get on board and give young people chances,” she adds.

Burnham’s challenge

So far, McFadden has confirmed that his Jobs Guarantee scheme will be rolled out nationwide in October, creating 90,000 jobs for Neets aged 18-24 who have been unemployed for 18 months or more.

The scheme, which is being piloted in major cities, will see jobs given to young people at firms like Boots and John Lewis paid for by the Government in a bid to get them off benefits.

However, the Government will only fund the salaries for those jobs for six months, and what happens after that is uncertain.

Improving the fortunes of some of Britain’s most vulnerable young people in towns like Blackpool, which have been neglected for years, is going to be one of the toughest tests of Labour’s new Burnham government.

With all signs pointing to a difficult autumn Budget for the Chancellor due to rising Government borrowing costs, difficult decisions likely lie ahead. But for Neets, their future is on the line.