Milburn review: Pay colleges for outcomes not headcounts

The interim report from the NEET review, chaired by Alan Milburn, has called for fundamental changes to the funding model for further education colleges. Rather than receiving payments based solely on student enrolment and qualification completion, the review suggests institutions should be remunerated according to the employment outcomes they achieve for young people. This shift would align financial incentives more closely with the goal of preparing students for sustainable careers rather than simply moving them through the system. The review identifies a systemic issue within the post-16 education landscape, where current metrics encourage colleges to focus on recruitment numbers rather than the quality of vocational preparation and job placement support. For young people at risk of becoming NEET, this misalignment can leave them with qualifications but without the practical pathways into work that they need to build stable futures. The recommendations pose significant questions for local authorities and education commissioners regarding how they contract and monitor college provision. Moving towards outcome-based funding would require robust tracking of graduate employment, sustained partnerships with local employers, and potentially greater investment in careers guidance and work placement coordination to ensure that public investment in further education delivers genuine economic returns for communities.