LEAP 16+ Transition
Securing the Post-16 pipeline — a trusted mentor supporting at-risk Year 11 learners during the school-to-college transition period, delivering positive outcomes for FE colleges and local authority employability and skills teams.
Book a Conversation Email UsClose the Tracking Gap
Phantom NEETs are not missing children — they are young people who slip through seams between institutions. A Year 11 leaver belongs to their school until August but with minimal contact after their final exam. They disappear if they fail to enrol at college or drop out soon after joining. They often only become known to their local authority two later. LEAP provides the crucial professional relationships that bridge these gaps.
Fix the Conversion Blind Spot
Young people apply to multiple colleges as insurance, so no college can tell a genuine first choice from a fallback option. LEAP mentors confirm a single, verified destination for every learner — giving FE colleges real conversion pipelines instead of waiting to see who appears in September. Local authorities gain early visibility of the young people most likely to be over-represented in 18–24 NEET statistics.
32,100
“Phantom NEET” 16 and 17 year olds unaccounted for nationally (DfE statistics, 2026)
24
learners typically carried by one dedicated Evolve Mentor across all three phases
10
learners retained to recover the full cost — each additional learner is net positive
c.6:1
modelled financial return at a conservative 50% success rate
How It Works
Year 11 Foundation
The Evolve Development Tracker pinpoints hidden barriers to learning — poor sleep, low self-efficacy, declining attendance — and mentors deliver targeted 1:1 and small-group support: destination planning, mindset coaching and exam preparedness.
Summer Protection
Structure through the highest-risk months: purposeful employer engagement activities, healthy-lifestyle development and planning for college life — whilst strengthening mentor-mentee relationships ready for the crucial final phase.
Enrolment and Retention
Hands-on support through enrolment and past the October ILR R02 census. Valuable student insights are shared so that college support is proportionate and informed from Day 1 — leading to more effective transitions and improved student retention statistics.
Maps to the New Policy Expectations
- RONI follow-through — the new Risk of NEET Indicator identifies the risk; LEAP is the delivery response that acts upon it
- DfE improvement plans — a costed answer for the 26 councils required to agree plans within six months, and for every LA facing new tracking expectations
- September Guarantee delivery — verified destinations and reduced “activity not known” figures
- Prevention at 16, not remediation at 18 — upstream of the £2.5bn Jobs Guarantee and Universal Credit reforms, at the cheapest possible point of intervention
The Evidence, Honestly
- A deliberately conservative model — assuming only half of the supported learners are retained, the college still protects £60,000 of 16–19 funding in Year 1 alone
- Breakeven is simple and checkable — only 10 retained learners covers the full cost of the programme
- The model excludes upside — second-year funding for completing learners, housing elements of Universal Credit, avoided LA casework, and potential cost savings for other Government departments
- Wider personal development likely follows — confidence, employability skills and family stability are other probable benefits, but ones we haven't started tracking yet