There are 1,692 16, 17 and 18-year-olds in Coventry and Warwickshire who fall into the category.

Numbers have increased this year because of the credit crunch which is hitting 18-year-olds leaving college or school and looking for a job particularly hard.

Staff from young people’s careers service Connexions are contacting all of them to persuade them to join one of the courses.

via Coventry Telegraph

While 15% say that their life lacks direction, 13% claim to feel down or depressed all or most of the time and 12% feel isolated all or most of the time.

These Northern Ireland results come as part of a UK-wide survey of 2,088 16-to-25-year-olds which suggests that unemployed young people are twice as likely to feel down or depressed than those in work.

Via 4NI

Courtney Theobald worked 14-hour days for nothing to prove her worth and escape life as a NEET. The 18-year-old, from Stroud, Glos, was unemployed at the end of a one-year course in childcare.

But she refused to spend her days lounging in front of the telly and did six months’ unpaid work at a clothes shop, only to be told they couldn’t afford to take her on.

Then Courtney found that a 99p store was looking for employees and signed up for a two-week work trial. At the end of it she was offered a job. She says:

‘I didn’t think it would be hard to find work when I left college but the reality was a different story.

via The Mirror

Ofsted has graded Swindon Council as the top performing local authority in the country for safeguarding and looking after children in care.

Seven years ago, the council’s Children Services department was branded as one of the worst in the country.

Councillor Garry Perkins, Cabinet Member for Children Services, said: “I am very proud of this result which has been achieved through sheer determination and a real team effort across Children Services to raise standards even further.

via Swindon Advertiser

The survey of 1,000 people found that only about a third (37 percent) of under 35s feel connected to the natural world, compared with more than half (55 percent) of those aged over 35.

People who grow up with regular access to the natural world often find it therapeutic, feel better mentally and physically and continue enjoying visits to places like nature reserves, parks and forests throughout their lives, the RSPB said.

via Reuters

Children’s Secretary Ed Balls and Schools Minister Vernon Coaker will today visit Limehouse Youth Centre in East London to highlight the Government’s progress in tackling anti-social behaviour and youth crime over the last two years in 69 priority areas. Ministers will also meet with young people and members of the community who have benefited from Government initiatives to tackle anti-social behaviour.

Other figures also show that:

• Street based teams have dealt with over 86,000 young people at risk in priority areas, redirecting them to support services and positive activities
• Since 2008, 28,000 disruptive young people have faced tough measures and support to tackle their behaviour through Challenge and Support projects, with 2165 Acceptable Behaviour Contracts and 313 Anti-Social Behaviour Orders issued
• 517 young people have benefitted from targeted and persistent support through our Intensive Intervention Projects.
• Recent data from the British Crime Survey shows that concerns about teenagers hanging around have dropped by 3 per cent over the last two years.

via egovmonitor

The young unemployed are already significantly less happy and confident – even about health, family relationships and friends – than those in work, it claims.

The extent to which feelings of lowered self-esteem permeate the lives of youths not in employment, education or training (so-called Neets) is revealed in a poll.

Conducted for The Prince’s Trust, the YouGov Youth Index documents the psychological setbacks inflicted on 16 to 25-year-olds – including graduates and those with fewer qualifications – as they struggle to find jobs.

The Youth Index reveals that those out of work are significantly less happy with their health, friendships and family life than those in work. Nearly one in 10 young people claim that unemployment drove them to drugs or alcohol. The survey, based on interviews with 2,088 16 to 25-year-olds, found that unemployed young people are also more likely to feel ashamed, rejected and unloved more of the time.

via The Guardian

People have until January 31 to nominate projects that allow young people, who have broken the law and been referred to the Youth Offending Service, to make good the harm they’ve caused. It is called the ‘Pick a Site, We’ll Put it Right’ initiative.

To be considered, the project has to benefit the community, not take paid work from anyone else and not make someone a profit. The work should be challenging, worthwhile and constructive.

The Youth Offending Service is particularly interested in projects involving painting and decorating, conservation or working with animals.

Via Cambs24

1. Working for the youth offending service as a parenting expert is an option. Lucy would be responsible for parenting orders and would have to write reports for courts….

2. Lucy could become a Connexions project co-ordinator of a pilot scheme looking at developing a district-wide system to support government policy to raise the school leaving age to 18 and keep more young people in education, employment or training….

Via The Guardian

"We are opening up various communication channels so that your views can be heard and I would encourage all interested parties to use this opportunity to help us shape the future of social services in Wales. There are many excellent projects and services ongoing in Wales and I want to make sure that we hear and learn about them all. We want to build on the good practices that already exist in Wales not reinvent the wheel."

The evidence submission should be sent by email to socialservicescommission@wales.gsi.gov.uk and in hard copy format to David Rich, Secretary, Independent Commission on Social Services in Wales, 4th Floor Crown Buildings, Cathays Park, Cardiff CF10 3NQ.

via Medical News Today