August Bank Holiday Round-up

Happy bank holiday Monday; alas, we have arrived at the last long weekend of summer!

This month, we’re looking at fresh data on NEETs in the UK, and hearing directly from some of the young people who find themselves under this umbrella.

And in the workertech world, we have an autumn packed full of events coming up, which we have rounded up for you at the end of the newsletter to get you into ‘back to school’ mode.

See you in September!
Aish

New data, and NEETs in their own voice

The latest data on young people (aged 16 to 25) who are not currently in education, employment and training – commonly referred to as NEET – show that their numbers have dropped to 981,000 in the second quarter of 2026, down from just over 1 million at the start of the year.

While this small fall is noteworthy, the larger picture remains bleak. The UK has the third highest NEET rate in Europe, with more than one-in-eight young people still out of a job or not in training towards one. The closely watched Milburn Review demonstrates that the Government is keen to tackle this growing issue, with the Review due to deliver its final recommendations in autumn of this year.

In the meantime, we wanted to highlight the voices of young NEETs in this issue of our newsletter. We want founders and investors to hear from young people who feel stuck in this transition. They range from graduates to school leavers, from carers to creatives – but they all share a similar motivation: to find the next best step for them, whether that’s training or employment.

“Sometimes people need support finding the motivation, building their confidence or working out what they actually want to do,”

– Tyler (aged 18) on what young people need after repeat experiences of rejection when job hunting. Originally featured on BBC News

 “…they get an idea of your personality…I think that matters quite a lot and that doesn’t always come across on a piece of paper or online,”

– El (from Leeds) on why she thinks it is important that young people get a sense of people’s personalities and skills alongside their resume. Originally featured on BBC News

“People often only see the carer, and the stereotypes around that. Like, ‘Oh, you’re going to be unreliable or you’re not going to be focused.’”

– A young carer’s perspective on how those with caring responsibilities are treated by employers. Originally featured in Inside the Mind Of A Young NEET by Shuab Gamote and Peter Hyman.

Resolution Ventures has spent the first half of this year meeting with investors, practitioners and founders who work with young people in this critical

Other insights from the Resolution Foundation

All by myself

This spotlight uses time-diary data to track how time spent alone has changed over the last decade, against a background of increased time spent on social media, a rise in home working and headlines about a “loneliness epidemic“, particularly among young people.

Resolution Foundation analysis finds that young men (aged 18-29) now spend more than two-fifths of their waking hours alone, an increase of up to two hours from a decade ago. Young women in the same age group are now spending around five of their waking hours alone.

Some of the key drivers for young people spending time alone are increased screen time and solo working. Our analysis finds that not only are younger people spending more time alone but also reporting feeling lonely.

Technology has certainly enabled the rise of remote working, but most workplace technology optimises for productivity and efficiency with relatively lower emphasis placed on worker wellbeing. A WorkerTech reading of this report finds that there may be a demand for wellbeing tools that cater to remote workers’ mental health, alongside usual workplace benefits (such as fitness memberships).

Losing energy
This Resolution Foundation spotlight looks at how UK households responded to the energy price shock caused by Russia’s invasion of Ukraine in 2022. It finds that while energy use has fallen by over a quarter since 2010, just over a third of that has come in just two years – 2022 and 2023, when energy prices soared.

The research finds that rich and poor families responded differently to the price shock. At the height of the crisis, richer neighbourhoods reduced electricity use by almost two-thirds more than the poorest, but turned their heating off 15 per cent less, with income the strongest predictor of gas use cutbacks, even after controlling for temperature variations (across regions) and housing quality (think: poor insulation).

Our colleagues warn that poorer places could be cutting back more despite having less room to cut, and argue that with prices facing renewed upward pressure this winter, any further support should be targeted by income rather than being universal.

Back to school round-up

The Impact Business Tipping Point
Produced by our friends at Allia Impact in partnership with Beauhurst Insights, this report is one of the UK’s first surveys of mission-led businesses, which, according to the report, number over 151,000. You can read the report here.

✨ FRAME Conference 2026
FRAME is a community-powered conference by Reframe Venture. It is a space for investors to advance responsible investing and ESG principles in venture capital. The conference is scheduled for September 17th and you can get tickets here.

Organise’s Amy Kinton on Tech for Good with BGV
Listen to Resolution Ventures and BGV portfolio company Organise talk about their AI rollout dashboard, the UK’s first live tracker of AI rollouts at workplaces, powered by worker voices. Listen here.

Sifted Summit is back
The Sifted Summit is a two-day conference in London. It’s where founders, operators and investors across Europe connect, and this year, it is happening on September 30th – October 1st. You can get tickets here.

Impact Unlimited Summit
The Impact Unlimited Summit in London aims to connect social and environmentally-driven organisations with an expert community to help them address the challenges they face. The Summit is happening on September 30th, and you can get tickets here.

Apply for direct investment from Resolution Ventures 
We accept applications from WorkerTech ventures on a rolling basis. You can book a slot in our office hours for an initial conversation.