Cities where as many as one in four young people are not in education, employment or training (NEET) have been identified in research by The Work Foundation and the Private Equity Foundation.

The chief ‘blackspots’ for youth unemployment are Grimsby, Doncaster, Warrington and Wigan, where almost 25% of young people are classified as NEETs. Birmingham and Swansea are the only non-Northern cities amongst the top ten cities with most NEETs.

Oxford, Aberdeen, York, Plymouth and Cambridge are the only cities nationally where the number of young people qualifying as NEETs is below 10%.

Among the recommendations made in the report are standardising measures for such statistics across national and local bodies, and improving relationships between education and employers.