Dear Mr Milburn,
We are writing to you on the morning your interim report has been published, as 957,000 young people are formally counted as NEET and your warning of a lost generation leads the national news.
You have identified a system spending 25 times more on welfare than on getting young people into jobs. You have had the courage to name it, across every institution, as a systemic failure. We believe we have something genuine and immediate to offer as you move into the solution phase.
We understand the real barrier.
The young people you describe are not disengaged because they lack ambition. They are disengaged because the institutions around them have consistently communicated, directly or indirectly, that a digital future is not for them.
The most effective response is not a course, nor an assessment framework. It is the moment a young person completes something that works and understands that the capability belongs to them permanently. Confidence, identity and demonstrable capability are not peripheral outcomes. They are the foundation upon which sustainable employment is built.
Who we are.
My name is Deborah Cleary. I am a founder of NoCodeLab, a Manchester-based AI education company. I am also a parent of university and school-age children. I write this not only as an educator, but as someone with a direct personal stake in the world your review is trying to build.
We have a practical solution.
We have trained over 3,000 people in the past year alone - not in theory, not in certificates, but in real AI tools that create real value immediately. We work with people aged 16 to 70. In our experience, within hours, something shifts. People who had never considered themselves capable of contributing to the digital economy begin to see themselves as builders.
We are an industry partner of the Centre for Digital Innovation, a UK Government-funded Innovation Accelerator led by Manchester Metropolitan University, where we sit alongside Barclays, IBM, Cisco and Fujitsu. We have direct, hands-on experience working with university-level students in Manchester, and we have seen the same transformation take place - young people moving from uncertainty to capability within hours.
We have also piloted this methodology in Europe, working with ENAIP, one of Europe's largest vocational education networks, operating across 180 centres nationwide. Vocational students aged 17 to 19, most with no prior experience, were building real solutions for real businesses within hours. Days later, companies were offering internships voluntarily - genuine commercial decisions made by employers who recognised immediately useful capability.
This was not technology displacing young workers. It was a new generation equipped with AI, helping existing businesses move faster than they could do alone. Rather than lacking experience, they possessed capabilities that workers with decades of traditional experience could not readily match.
Antonio Putrino, Cavaliere della Repubblica Italiana, the international executive who championed our ENAIP partnership, recently spoke with us about what he observed and why he believes that this approach is truly transformational for young people. You can read that conversation here: ANTONIO INTERVIEW
Our ask.
We would welcome the opportunity to contribute as a delivery partner in your solution phase, working alongside local authorities, colleges and DWP-commissioned providers to develop pilot programmes for NEET 16 to 24 year olds.
We would be grateful for thirty minutes of your time, or that of a member of your panel. We are happy to come wherever is convenient.
If this letter reaches anyone in Mr Milburn's team, we would be grateful if you would pass it on. And if it reaches those who share our belief that this generation deserves a concrete and urgent response, we would welcome your support in sharing it.
The solution phase is open. We are ready. And we would be deeply honoured to join the conversation.
Yours sincerely,
Deborah Cleary and Sara Simeone
Founders, NoCodeLab (nocodelab.ai)
NoCodeLab is a Manchester-based AI education and capability building company. Human-first. Proven at scale. Ready now.