Impact of raising of the participation age

The Policy Exchange has published a paper by Alison Woolf which dismisses many of the claims made by government on the positive impact that raising the education participation age will have on individuals and the economy.

Woolf believes that:
- raising the participation age will result in a net annual cost to the economy of £1.7bn, opposed to the government's beliefs that the economy will benefit by £1.6bn
- many young people work in small companies (less than 25 employees) who will be unable to bear the costs associated with additional training and the time this will take, thus reducing the chances that such employers will hire young people
- none A-level qualifications are not proven to have significant economic impact
- coercing young people into education or training will prove counter-productive as the motivation to learn will be weak
- to truly tackle the issue of NEETs money would be better spent on primary education