A MASTERPLAN has been drawn up to help soaring numbers of young people who are unemployed and not in education or training.

There are 550 16 to 18-year-olds in this position across Basildon, Wickford and Billericay – more than any other district or borough in Essex.

Basildon Council is so worried about this potential lost generation of teenagers that its Overview and Scrutiny Commission has published a report on how they can be helped off an early scrapheap.

Measures include guiding more youngsters into apprenticeships and ensuring all students who fail to achieve A to C grades at maths and English GCSE, are allowed to retake them at the earliest opportunity.

Sylvia Buckley, chairman of the Overview and Scrutiny Commission, also contacted National Express East Anglia asking the rail company to introduce free tickets for young people attending job interviews and their first month of employment, travelling from Wickford and Billericay stations.

A similar scheme already exists for the c2c railway line, which stops at Basildon station, in partnership with Connex-ions’ careers advice and support service.

Mrs Buckley said: “We have a growing problem with young people who are out of education and have little prospect of finding work, which needs to be dealt with urgently.

“Sadly, students often don’t realise how important it is to get A to C in maths and English GCSE, then regret it once they realise they need them to qualify for apprenticeships and many jobs.

“Rather than becoming long-term unemployed, we want to give them every opportunity to make up for this. At present, not all schools allow pupils to re-take their GCSEs and we want to make sure they do.

“We also had a positive response from National Express East Anglia and hope they’ll be introducing free tickets soon.”

The report, to be considered by the ruling cabinet next Thursday, also calls for more learning mentors in schools, helping special needs students to achieve better grades, so they avoid falling out of education and employment.

The 550 teenagers currently not in education, training or employment, works out as 12.8 per cent of young people across Basildon district.

This reflected a noticeable increase from 2008, when the figure was 9.8 per cent.

Across Essex, 6.8 per cent of 16 to 18-year-olds are not in education, employment or training. The national figure is 6.4 per cent.

FRIENDS Ryan Hovesholm and Matt Dougan both feel they’ve been let down by the system.

The proposals could help the teenagers secure the jobs they want and get them off benefits.

Ryan, 17, and Matt, 19, both want to become mechanics, but say they had no guidance in getting into relevant training.

They are former pupils of Chalvedon School, in Pitsea, but left with hardly any GCSEs.

Ryan, of Rectory Road, Pitsea, said: “I have been looking for a job for ages, but what I really want to do is to train to become a mechanic.

“I think what the council is promising will be a good thing, as a lot of young people feel they’re being ignored.”

Ryan says he wants to work. In January, during the snow showers which brought chaos to the UK, he spent six hours of his free time shovelling snow off the streets of Pitsea.

“I’m not lazy,” he said. “A lot of people have negative views about teenagers who aren’t working or aren’t at college, but it can be easy to find yourself in that situation.”

Ryan recently began a construction course, at Crown College, in Southend, which brings him £30 a week.

Matt, also of Pitsea, who is neither in employment nor education, added: “I don’t think the Government understands why young people just give up looking for a job. You just don’t seem to get anywhere a lot of the time.

“I don’t remember getting any help when leaving school about what to do.

“It gets boring with nothing to do a lot of the time. I want to have a job and to have money, but I do need some help.

“I think the council is right to bring in this new scheme.”