The data presented is derived from a three-year project (2016-2019), which was undertaken by the University of Oxford’s Centre on Skills, Knowledge and Organisational Performance (SKOPE), with funding from the Economic and Social Research Council (ESRC). It formed part of a project funded from the Open Research Area (ORA) for the Social Sciences to undertake a comparative quantitative secondary data analysis study of young people not in education, employment or training in the UK, the Netherlands, Japan, Germany and France to understand the causes and consequences of NEET status. Alongside the quantitative analysis within the UK strand of the research, a review of NEET policy interventions across the four UK nations was undertaken, to explore the absence of a UK-wide strategy or common approach to address the issue. An initial visit was made to policy makers with responsibility for the NEET agenda across the UK to discuss policy strategy and intervention, obtain policy background information and to secure their cooperation. This was followed by a two-or-three-day visit to each locality to conduct a series of face-to-face qualitative interviews (or telephone interviews) with key stakeholders, including representatives from government departments and agencies, charities, youth organisations and training providers. The interview transcripts from this stage of the research form the submission to ReShare. The final stage of the fieldwork comprised convening policy seminars in each of the four localities, in order to feedback initial findings and, crucially, to assess their accuracy as well as to identify shifts and changes in policy direction since the study visits.The University of Oxford’s Centre on Skills, Knowledge and Organisational Performance (SKOPE), as part of a consortium led by the University of Maastricht secured funding from the Open Research Area (ORA) for the Social Sciences to undertake a comparative study of young people not in education, employment or training (NEET). Secondary quantitative data analysis and longitudinal qualitative case studies addressed the following key research questions: 1) What are the patterns of NEET? 2) What are the causes of NEET? 3) To what extent can (a) individual characteristics, and (b) countries’ institutions and policies, and the interactions between them explain the probability that young people aged between 16-29 years make transitions into and out of NEET status? 4) What are the consequences of NEET?

An initial visit was made to policy-makers with responsibility for the NEET agenda across the UK to discuss policy strategy and intervention and to obtain recommendations on key contacts/organisations who should be interviewed as part of the research. This was followed by a two-or-three-day visit to each locality to conduct a series of face-to-face meetings (or follow-up telephone interviews) with key stakeholders, including representatives from government departments and agencies, charities, youth organisations and training providers. The field work was completed between December 2016 and December 2017. The final stage of the fieldwork, undertaken from October to November 2018, comprised convening policy seminars in each of the four localities, in order to feedback initial findings and, crucially, to assess their accuracy as well as to identify shifts and changes in policy direction since the study visits.