We spend a great deal of time assessing young people’s readiness for adulthood. But are we spending enough time assessing whether our systems are ready to give them meaningful opportunities?
There is something I always value about an annual review: the opportunity to pause, recognise progress and hear what matters to a young person.
Recently, I’ve heard positive stories from annual reviews about young people choosing college, exploring their next steps and making progress towards futures that reflect their interests and ambitions. These are moments worth celebrating. They remind us that progress is personal, that success does not look the same for everyone, and that the right opportunity can make a real difference.
But annual reviews are also a chance to ask some bigger questions
As we plan for adulthood, are we thinking broadly enough about what a good adult life can look like? Are we creating genuine opportunities for young people to learn, work, contribute, build relationships and be part of their communities? And when a young person’s next step does not fit a familiar route, do we think outside the proverbial box or do we take the ‘easier’ route and lower our expectations? The data suggest that these questions deserve our attention.
What do the destination figures tell us?
The Department for Education’s latest 16–19 destination measures for 2024/25 (published October 2026) provide a useful starting point.
Across maintained mainstream schools and colleges in England, 77.5% of young people completing 16–19 study had a sustained destination in education, employment or an apprenticeship. That is a decrease of 1.5 percentage points on the previous year.
Looking at the individual destinations, 43.4% continued in education, 27.2% entered employment and 7% entered an apprenticeship. The proportion entering sustained employment fell by 1.1 percentage points, while apprenticeship destinations fell by 0.4 percentage points.
These figures matter. They tell us something about the routes young people take after further education and whether those routes are sustained for a defined period.
But the headline figures do not tell the whole story.
Among young people leaving 16–19 study with an education, health and care plan (EHCP), 44.9% had a sustained education destination. This was broadly comparable with the 44.8% recorded for young people with no identified special educational needs.
However, the type of destination differed. Further education was the most common education destination for young people with an EHCP, at 29.7%, whereas higher education was the most common education destination for those with no identified special educational needs, at 39.6%.
There is nothing inherently wrong with either destination. Further education can be an important and ambitious next step, just as university can be. The question is whether each young person has access to the pathway that is right for them, with the support and opportunities needed to make progress.
The same data also shows that college leavers identified as having learning difficulties or disabilities were less likely to have a sustained overall destination than college leavers without an identified learning difficulty or disability: 64.6% compared with 73.9%.
That is a gap of 9.3%!
These are different measures and different groups of young people, so they should not be treated as interchangeable. Nor does a destination statistic tell us whether an individual young person is happy, fulfilled or making progress towards their own goals.
What it does tell us is that the routes through education and into adult life are not experienced equally.
Education is a destination. It is also a beginning.
For many young people, college is an important part of preparing for adulthood. It can offer qualifications, practical skills, independence, friendships, confidence and the chance to explore what comes next.
For others, the right pathway may involve specialist provision, supported internships, apprenticeships, supported employment or a combination of education and community-based opportunities.
The important thing is not that every young person follows the same route. It is that the route has purpose, reflects their aspirations and opens up further possibilities.
This is where annual reviews can be particularly valuable.
Preparing for Adulthood is not simply a heading to include in a meeting or a list of outcomes to copy into a plan. It asks us to think about the life a young person wants to build, including employment, independent living, community inclusion, and good health.
Those areas are connected. Having opportunities to develop skills, make decisions, travel, build relationships and take part in meaningful activities can support progress across more than one area at a time.
A good annual review should therefore do more than record what has happened since the last meeting. It should help everyone understand what the young person wants to achieve, what progress looks like for them, what is getting in the way and what needs to happen next, alongside what is working well and what can be better.
We can be so focused on identifying needs, reviewing provision and planning interventions that we risk overlooking strengths, interests, achievements and the things that bring a young person joy. These are not extras. They can be central to understanding what a meaningful future looks like.
What happens when the next step is not there?
The wider picture of young people and work raises another important question: what happens when education ends but a meaningful next step does not follow?
In May 2026, Alan Milburn published the discovery-phase findings of the government-commissioned Young People and Work: Interim Report. The report describes a national challenge: nearly one million young people aged 16–24 across the UK are not in education, employment or training (NEET). It examines the rise in young people who are disconnected from education and work, including disabled young people and those with health conditions.
The report looks beyond individual circumstances to consider the interaction between employment, health, skills and welfare systems. It raises questions about how well those systems work together and whether young people can access the support and opportunities they need. This matters for transition planning.
A young person can leave education with skills, interests, aspirations and a desire to contribute, yet still struggle to find a suitable next step. There may be limited local opportunities, gaps between services, inaccessible recruitment processes, transport difficulties or a lack of appropriate support from employers.
In those circumstances, it is not enough to ask whether the young person is ready for adulthood or ready for work (I’ve talked about work ready before).
We also need to ask whether the opportunities exist, whether they are accessible, and whether the right support is in place to help the young person take them up.
The Milburn report is not a review of the SEND system itself, and its findings should not be presented as though they are specific to young people with EHCPs. But its wider focus on the barriers young people face when trying to learn, work and participate is highly relevant to how we think about transition.
A successful transition cannot depend on a young person being ready for a world that has not made room for them.
The employment gap: a question we cannot ignore
The picture becomes particularly stark when we look at adults with learning disabilities who receive long-term social care support.
The Department of Health and Social Care’s Adult social care activity report, England: 2024 to 2025 records that, among working-age adults receiving long-term learning disability support whose employment status was known, just 6% were in paid employment.
That figure needs to be understood in context. It relates to a specific group of adults receiving long-term support; it is not an employment rate for every person with a learning disability in England. Employment status was not recorded for 18% of the working-age recipients included in the report. Even with those allowances, the figure should make us stop and think.
Paid employment is not the right or preferred outcome for every person. A meaningful adult life is not measured by whether someone has a job, and people should have the freedom to pursue different interests, roles and forms of contribution.
But for those who want to work, the opportunity to do so should be real.
Work can bring income, independence, routine, relationships, identity and a sense of belonging. It can give people the opportunity to use their skills and be recognised for what they contribute. Valorisation, in short.
If so few working-age adults receiving long-term learning disability support are in paid employment, we have to consider more than individual employability. We need to look at the availability of jobs, employer expectations, recruitment practices, workplace adjustments, access to support and the routes that help people move from education into paid work.
We also need to think about the transition between services. What happens when a young person leaves college? Who helps them find an employer? Who supports the employer to make the role accessible? Who makes sure that the support needed to get started is available and continues when it matters?
These questions cannot be answered by an annual review alone. But an annual review can be a place to identify the ambition, plan the next steps and make sure that responsibility for action is clear.
We can spend a great deal of time assessing whether a young person has developed the skills, independence and confidence expected for the next stage of life. Those things can matter, and the right preparation and support can make a significant difference. But readiness is not simply a quality that a person either has or does not have.
A young person may be ready to take a step when the environment is accessible, expectations are realistic and appropriate support is available. The same young person may struggle when faced with inflexible systems, inaccessible communication, assumptions about what they can achieve or opportunities that have not been designed with them in mind.
This is one of the reasons the social model of disability is important. It asks us to look at the barriers created by environments, attitudes and systems, rather than locating every difficulty within the individual. That does not mean ignoring differences in ability or pretending that support is unnecessary. It means recognising that support and opportunity can change what is possible.
A workplace can make adjustments. A college can adapt its approach. An employer can rethink recruitment. A service can work differently with another service. A community can become more accessible. And when we do that, we may discover that a person can achieve far more than the system previously expected.
The question shifts from ‘Is this young person ready?’ to ‘What would help this young person succeed, and what needs to change to make that possible?’
This is not about lowering expectations but making expectations meaningful and giving people a fair opportunity to meet them.
If we get it right for those facing the greatest barriers, we get it right for everyone
I do not believe inclusion should be framed as doing something extra for a small group of people. Nor do I believe there is one model of success that everyone should be expected to follow.
People have different abilities, interests, ambitions and support needs. A good system recognises those differences and makes room for people to contribute in ways that work for them.
When we create accessible workplaces, clearer pathways into employment and education, more flexible support and better-connected services, we all benefit. We can make systems easier to navigate, opportunities easier to access and communities better places to live and work.
That is why the figures on education destinations, youth disconnection and employment for adults with learning disabilities should not be viewed as separate issues. They are different parts of a wider conversation about opportunity, participation and what we value in adult life.
If we are serious about preparing young people for adulthood, we must be equally serious about preparing our systems, services, employers and communities to welcome them.
The aim is not simply to move a young person from one service to another, or to record that a transition has taken place. It is to help create the conditions in which they can build a meaningful adult life with choices, relationships, purpose and opportunities to contribute. That work starts long before a young person leaves education. It starts when we listen to what matters to them, recognise what they can do, plan for what they want next and challenge the barriers that stand in their way.
We spend a great deal of time assessing young people’s readiness for adulthood. It is time we paid equal attention to whether adulthood is ready to offer them the opportunities they deserve. And if we get it right for those who face the greatest barriers, we have an opportunity to build a system that works better for everyone.
