The proportion of young people going into education, training or work nine months after finishing school is the joint highest since records began. Additionally, the level of young people from deprived backgrounds going into positive destinations is the highest it has ever been.
The latest Summary Statistics for Follow-up Leaver Destinations for 2024-25, show 93.5% of young people were in positive destinations including training, education, and employment. This is up from 93.1% the previous year. Alongside 2021-22 figures, this represents the joint-highest level since consistent records began.
The proportion of young people from the most deprived backgrounds in a positive follow-up destination is as high as it has ever been. The gap between those leaving school from the most (20%) and least (20%) deprived areas in accessing a positive follow-up destination was 7.6 percentage points. This is narrower than both last year (8.3 percentage points) and the pre-Covid position in 2018-19 (8.4 percentage points).
The increase in school-leavers in reaching positive destinations over the latest year has been driven by a rise in the proportion in Higher Education (from 38.1% to 40.2%) and Further Education (from 21.9% to 22.1%).