£338.58 monthly from April 2026 for a single person under 25, before housing support or a health-related addition.
A ONE PAGE SUMMARY
THENEETANSWER
Most people call it the NEET problem. This is the NEET answer.
1 million young people in the UK are not in education, employment or training: 13.5% of 16 to 24 year olds, and the first time above 1 million since 2013 (ONS, January to March 2026).
84% want a job, education or training, and 6 in 10 have never had a job (DWP).
The system spends £25 on benefits for each £1 on active employment support. The figures below show why the model keeps its welfare assumption deliberately cautious.
THE £25 TO £1 TURN
Follow the welfare figure from its floor to the long view.
An explicit modelling allowance for housing and other benefits, rather than an assumed uniform entitlement.
The calculation creates an informed reference point before the model is held lower.
The annual welfare saving carried into the direct fiscal value model for each participant.
DWP estimates annual spending on young people across key benefits, including Universal Credit and Personal Independence Payment.
Against 1 million NEET young people, this is a system-scale equivalent close to £8,000 per person, not an individual award.DWP's lifetime public-finance ceiling for someone continuously NEET from ages 18 to 24.
The figure includes foregone income tax, National Insurance and additional benefit spending across the lifetime measure.The £6,500 annual assumption remains a deliberate decision. It sits above the standard allowance floor, below the 65% uplift calculation and below the wider system-scale comparison, keeping the welfare line on the cautious side throughout the model.
DWP benefit rates for 2026 to 2027DWP Young People and Work interim report
01
Why now
SMEs and corporates alike are not ready for AI, yet AI speaks for them. Brands and government have already lost control of the conversation: 85% of brand mentions in AI search come from third-party content (AirOps), and misinformation is a top concern (Gallagher).
Within 12 to 18 months, this will decide who pulls ahead and who falls behind. Compliance failure compounds the cost, and the NEET answer solves this now, building an AI-ready economy.
02
What it is
A national programme that educates NEET young people in the practical use of AI and places them into paid employment with UK SMEs and corporates. For over 25 years, our technology has read organisations the way the outside world reads them. Millions of websites audited: what needs doing is known first.
The education is 2 courses, each of 8 weeks, both founded on understanding the needs and requirements of the market, then each turns to the specifics of one sector, research and work: one corporate, one SME. Taking both is 16 weeks, and participants leave with the skills their sector needs; the sector gains a person prepared for its work.
03
Why it stands up
Funded from money already allocated: the £820m Youth Guarantee, Skills Bootcamps 2026 to 2027, and Apprenticeship Levy transfers from large corporates. No new spend is asked for; the evidence base is ONS and DWP, and the mechanism is proprietary.
For less than 1% of allocated funds, the NEET answer is; AI training, support and paid employment for 85,000 NEETs. We will upskill over 170,000 SMEs in the value of AI. For all confidence, purpose and growth.
04
The technology
Behind the programme sits the platform, where the CCDM (Continuous Content Discovery and Mapping) knows what is required, the work, how long it will take, what is involved, and drives the skills matching. The AI governance module educates young people on the specifics of AI governance and the organisation.
Continuously matching resource to need, it runs a closed loop: knowing what is needed, knowing who can deliver it, teaching people to deliver it.
WHO IT IS FOR
One programme. Three outcomes.
For the NEET generation
Practical education matched to a real gap, not a guessed one. They leave with employment skills, paid work to step into, and a sector they chose themselves. Personal worth established: confidence, a purpose, earning instead of waiting.
For SMEs
The powerhouses of a nation: no technology department, no spare hour to ask what AI could do. A young person equipped with what AI can do changes that arithmetic: calls answered, invoices sent the same day, hours handed back to the work. AI reads and drafts, the owner decides, removing the operational, legal and GDPR risk.
For corporates
80% of AI projects fail to scale, and only 48% of generative AI projects reach production. The missing piece is people who can do the work the gap demands. The programme creates that resource and puts surplus Levy funds to work in their own supply chains, strengthening competitiveness and mitigating AI exposure.
AI is the defining opportunity of a generation, and we believe its advantage belongs to everybody.
Understanding is what makes that true.Estimate basis: Our estimates use our data, mapped against published government spend and costs; the full basis is available.