The first rung is missing. Young people need more than a ladder.

The recent ONS figures should stop us in our tracks.

More than one million young people aged 16 to 24 are now not in education, employment or training. Behind that number are young people applying for jobs and hearing nothing back. Young people who want to contribute, but cannot find a way in. Young people who are being talked about as a problem, when what they need is opportunity.

Alan Milburn’s review is right to challenge the idea that this is a failure of young people. It is not. It is a failure to give them enough real-world chances to build the confidence, experience and belief they need before they are expected to step into work.

Qualifications matter, of course they do. But employers are increasingly clear that qualifications alone are not enough. They also need young people who can communicate, adapt, work with others, manage pressure and recover when something goes wrong.

Those skills do not appear overnight, they are built through experience.

I have seen the impact of this first-hand, when spending time with apprentices and grads out on the hills and on our lakes and rivers. 

We see huge potential in young people entering the workplace, but many have had fewer chances to build confidence and real-world experience before joining us. Technical skills matter, but so do communication, resilience and the ability to work well with others. That is why experiences that help young people practise those skills before they are under pressure at work are so important.  

Richard Welch, Technical Training & Development Manager (Volkswagen Group)

A young person who starts the week unsure whether they can contribute becomes the person encouraging someone else up a mountain. Someone who was quiet at breakfast finds their voice when the group needs a plan. Someone who thought they would give up discovers they can keep going.

That is not a nice extra - It is the foundation of work readiness.

When young people take part in outdoor learning, they are not simply having time away from a screen or a break from the classroom. They are learning how to make decisions, solve problems, listen, lead, fail safely and try again - they are building the human skills employers say they need.

This matters because the first step into work has become harder to reach.

What stands out after an Outward Bound experience is not just that young people have completed an adventure. It is how they return: more willing to speak up, more aware of themselves, and more able to support each other. Those are exactly the qualities we need in the workplace and in society.

 Lee Woods, Engineering Trainees Team Leader (UK Power Networks)

Milburn has described a “catch-22” where employers want work experience, but the opportunities to gain that experience have narrowed. That should concern all of us. If we expect young people to arrive fully formed, confident and workplace-ready, while giving them fewer chances to practise those skills, we should not be surprised when the transition breaks down.

The answer is not to lower expectations – young people do not need us to expect less of them.

They need us to back them earlier.

That means more high-quality work experience. More early careers support. More apprenticeships that build confidence as well as competence. More partnerships between employers, schools, charities and communities. And more real-world learning that helps young people discover what they are capable of before they reach a point of crisis.

We should be careful how we talk about this generation.

As a major employer and economic driver in the South East, we recognise the importance of opening doors for young people and we are delighted to work with Outward Bound to support those entering the job market, creating clear pathways into well-rewarded, high-skilled careers.

David White, Apprentice Development Lead (London Gatwick)

They are not work-shy. They are not snowflakes. They are not a lost cause.

As a parent, I have witnessed this myself. Young people have oodles of untapped potential, but many are growing up in a world that asks a lot of them, without enough chances to build the confidence and experience that previous generations gained more naturally through part-time work, community life or early responsibility.

Experiences like Outward Bound will not solve youth unemployment on its own. No single intervention will. But we have an important part to play.

Because when a young person stands on a mountain, leads a team across a lake, cooks for their group, navigates a route, or gets back up after falling short, something shifts. They learn that they can do hard things, that other people need and rely on them and that effort can lead somewhere.

That self-belief matters.

If the first rung of the ladder has thinned, we need to rebuild it. Not with words alone, but with experiences that help young people step up.

Young people are not lacking potential.

They are waiting for more of us to act like we believe in it.