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Welcome to Impetus Insights, a place where we discuss ideas, articles and interesting reading about education and employment policy.
November 2025
Press release on school attendance and young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. For young people on Free School Meals, the pace is even slower, with absence rates unlikely to return to their pre-pandemic levels until 2031.
October 2025
Welcome to Impetus Insights, a place where we discuss ideas, articles and interesting reading about education and employment policy.
October 2025
IntoUniversity will now enter the Impetus Alumni Network, as we begin a new stage in our relationship.
October 2025
Welcome to Impetus Insights, a place where we discuss ideas, articles and interesting reading about education and employment policy.
September 2025
More than 30 parent groups, school trusts, charities and campaigners back new campaign for inclusive school reform, led by Impetus and The Difference.
September 2025
A major new report published by Impetus and Public First, warns persistent school absence has become endemic and embedded as a cultural norm, with the online world driving real-world school absenteeism.
September 2025
A report drawing on a series of focus groups with young people, exploring how pupils perceive school, how they make day-to-day decisions about whether to attend, and what they believe needs to change.
September 2025
Welcome to Impetus Insights, a place where we discuss ideas, articles and interesting reading about education and employment policy.
August 2025
Press release on the Government's statistics on the number of young people not in education, employment, or training (NEET) in August 2025.
August 2025
Press release on the Government's statistics on pupil absence in schools in England, autumn 2025.
August 2025
Welcome to Impetus Insights, a place where we discuss ideas, articles and interesting reading about education and employment policy.
July 2025
A blog on the ways to reduce the drivers of exclusions and equipping schools with alternative ways of working with children at risk of being excluded.
July 2025
Welcome to Impetus Insights, a place where we discuss ideas, articles and interesting reading about education and employment policy.
June 2025
Welcome to Impetus Insights, a place where we discuss ideas, articles and interesting reading about education and employment policy.
May 2025
This report, in collaboration with Action Tutoring, The Tutor Trust, Get Further, Tutors United, Team Up Hub and The Children's Literacy Charity, aims to draw lessons from the National Tutoring Programme, created in response to the pandemic and unequal impact of 'lost learning' which disproportionately impacts pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds. Drawing on this analysis, the report outlines recommendations for any future state-funded tutoring schemes.
April 2025
Welcome to Impetus Insights, a place where we discuss ideas, articles and interesting reading about education and employment policy.
March 2025
This report from the Who is Losing Learning Coalition draws experience and insight from education experts in shaping evidence-backed solutions to combat lost learning. Their collective expertise has fueled this Solutions Report – packed with actionable policy recommendations to tackle the school engagement crisis.
March 2025
Welcome to Impetus Insights, a place where we discuss ideas, articles and interesting reading about education and employment policy.
February 2025
How and why Impetus conducts research and policy work to drive systemic change for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.
February 2025
Welcome to Impetus Insights, a place where we discuss ideas, articles and interesting reading about education and employment policy.
January 2025
Welcome to Impetus Insights, a place where we discuss ideas, articles and interesting reading about education and employment policy.
December 2024
Welcome to Impetus Insights, a place where we discuss ideas, articles and interesting reading about education and employment policy.
November 2024
The Oracy Education Commission's report details the critical role of oracy education for building up children and young people to become citizens that live happy, successful lives.
October 2024
Welcome to Impetus Insights, a place where we discuss ideas, articles and interesting reading about education and employment policy.
October 2024
Impetus announces new portfolio partnerships with Co-op Academies Trust and The Two Counties Trust, through the Engage Fund which is dedicated to improving outcomes for young people who have been or are at risk of being excluded from school.
October 2024
The Oracy Commission's report on the Future of Oracy Education in England.
October 2024
A new report calling for oracy to be prioritised in schools is published by the Independent Commission on the Future of Oracy Education in England, supported by Impetus.
October 2024
Welcome to Impetus Insights, a place where we discuss ideas, articles and interesting reading about education and employment policy.
September 2024
This report, produced as part of the work of the Who is Losing Learning? Coalition, explores the rising tide of lost learning, and sets out a strong economic case to invest in reducing escalations. We introduce an ‘exclusions continuum’ that brings together different datasets and presents an overview of the rising prevalence of children losing learning, whether through absence, suspension, internal exclusion or the 11 other types of lost learning we have identified.
September 2024
Impetus celebrates the graduation of three longest standing charities from the portfolio.
September 2024
Welcome to Impetus Insights, a place where we discuss ideas, articles and interesting reading about education and employment policy.
August 2024
The Education Policy Institute's report, commissioned by Impetus, identifies a “suspension employment gap", with young people who are suspended at secondary school experiencing a range of poorer outcomes in late adolescence and early adulthood, compared with those who are not suspended.
August 2024
A new report published by the Education Policy Institute, commissioned by Impetus, identifies a “suspension employment gap", with young people who are suspended at secondary school experiencing a range of poorer outcomes in late adolescence and early adulthood, compared with those who are not suspended.
August 2024
Welcome to Impetus Insights, a place where we discuss ideas, articles and interesting reading about education and employment policy.
July 2024
Welcome to Impetus Insights, a place where we discuss ideas, articles and interesting reading about education and employment policy.
June 2024
Welcome to Impetus Insights, a place where we discuss ideas, articles and interesting reading about education and employment policy.
May 2024
Welcome to Impetus Insights, a place where we discuss ideas, articles and interesting reading about education and employment policy.
April 2024
Welcome to Impetus Insights, a place where we discuss ideas, articles and interesting reading about education and employment policy.
March 2024
Our 2024 manifesto is a collection of evidence-based ideas aimed at transforming the lives of young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. It’s also a call to action, urging the next government to place these young people at the forefront of their policy agenda.
March 2024
Streets of Growth, School of Hard Knocks and Empire Fighting Chance will receive a package of support including unrestricted funding.
March 2024
The Education Policy Institute's report, commissioned by Impetus, identifies a “suspension grades gap", with young people who experience even a single suspension, or temporary removal from secondary school, less likely to pass crucial GCSEs in English and maths.
March 2024
A new report published by the Education Policy Institute, commissioned by Impetus, identifies a “suspension grades gap", with young people who experience even a single suspension, or temporary removal from secondary school, less likely to pass crucial GCSEs in English and maths.
March 2024
Welcome to Impetus Insights, a place where we discuss ideas, articles and interesting reading about education and employment policy.
February 2024
Welcome to Impetus Insights, a place where we discuss ideas, articles and interesting reading about education and employment policy.
January 2024
Since joining the Impetus portfolio, the success of Action Tutoring has not just been about increasing reach, but a growth in impact.
January 2024
Higher education providers are now in the process of developing their new access and participation plans, to meet regulatory requirements. We worked with one of the universities that took part in the first wave of this work, the University of Bath, to explore how a clearer understanding of their Theory of Change can lead to better programmes and better outcomes for people facing disadvantage. This paper sets out our lessons, both for universities preparing their plans, and for policymakers in the higher education sector.
January 2024
Welcome to Impetus Insights, a place where we discuss ideas, articles and interesting reading about education and employment policy.
December 2023
How a shared belief in the power of tutoring took us on a journey from reflection to refinement to growth.
December 2023
Impact and impact management are central to everything we do in our partnership with City Gateway
November 2023
Welcome to Impetus Insights... a place where we discuss ideas, articles and interesting reading about education and employment policy - and what we think it means for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. We'll be sharing this every month alongside news and updates about our own policy work. We’d love to hear what you think of this edition, and what you’d like to see in future newsletters.
November 2023
Welcome to Impetus Insights... a place where we discuss ideas, articles and interesting reading about education and employment policy - and what we think it means for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. We'll be sharing this every month alongside news and updates about our own policy work. We’d love to hear what you think of this edition, and what you’d like to see in future newsletters.
October 2023
Welcome to Impetus Insights... a place where we discuss ideas, articles and interesting reading about education and employment policy - and what we think it means for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds. We'll be sharing this every month alongside news and updates about our own policy work. We’d love to hear what you think of this edition, and what you’d like to see in future newsletters.
September 2023
Attendance in schools is in crisis, with profound consequences both for our education system and for society more widely. For decades, daily attendance at school - by every pupil, every day, throughout term time - has been part of the social contract between schools and families. This is no longer the case.
September 2023
A report on the causes of attendance crisis, in first investigation of its kind, spoke to parents across the country.
September 2023
For the first time, the majority of suspensions are of children living in poverty, widening the poverty gap in lost learning.
September 2023
Welcome to Impetus Insights, a place where we discuss ideas, articles and interesting reading about education and employment policy.
August 2023
Welcome to Impetus Insights, a place where we discuss ideas, articles and interesting reading about education and employment policy.
July 2023
Children's Commissioner calls for tutoring to be put at the heart of the education landscape.
July 2023
This new research reveals that aside from its benefits for catching up on lost learning, tutoring can also support the post pandemic crisis of pupil mental health and attendance.
July 2023
Welcome to Impetus Insights, a place where we discuss ideas, articles and interesting reading about education and employment policy.
June 2023
At Impetus, we build sector-leading charities. We work shoulder-to-shoulder with them to help make them stronger, delivering better results year after year, to more young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.
June 2023
Welcome to Impetus Insights, a place where we discuss ideas, articles and interesting reading about education and employment policy.
May 2023
Welcome to Impetus Insights, a place where we discuss ideas, articles and interesting reading about education and employment policy.
April 2023
Welcome to Impetus Insights, a place where we discuss ideas, articles and interesting reading about education and employment policy.
March 2023
Welcome to Impetus Insights, a place where we discuss ideas, articles and interesting reading about education and employment policy.
February 2023
Welcome to Impetus Insights, a place where we discuss ideas, articles and interesting reading about education and employment policy - and what we think it means for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds.
January 2023
A report with the Centre for Education and Youth, on social and emotional learning, sets out what’s happening in practice and where we could go next.
December 2022
A new “state of the nation” report in partnership with the Centre for Education and Youth on social and emotional learning, which sets out what’s happening in practice and where we could go next.
December 2022
The central mission of the NTP – to reach pupils from disadvantaged backgrounds – risks being missed unless the Department for Education addresses key gaps in the programme.
October 2022
A forums to accelerate fair access and participation for charities delivering frontline work in access to university for disadvantaged groups.
October 2022
A package of reforms that must be implemented by the Government in order for the National Tutoring Programme to reach the thousands of children who have fallen behind at school.
July 2022
Changes to the flagship National Tutoring Programme would transform the lives of the young people it was designed to reach.
July 2022
Headlines about the declining number of advantaged students going to Oxbridge are distracting from the real state of play in university admissions.
May 2022
Discussing how we can enhance collaboration to support more young people on the path to success, in an event hosting John Blake, Director for Fair Access and Participation.
February 2022
Existing data fails to support lengthening the school day as a means to boost attainment, according to new report
November 2021
Examining the impact of the length of the school day on attainment
November 2021
Impetus believes fair access must be at the centre of the sector-wide debate about whether the UK higher education system should move to a system of post-qualification admissions (PQA) system. The access gap between young people who are free school meal eligible and their better-off peers is at its highest since 2007. Yet the two proposals on the table risk massive upheaval that would distract from the biggest barriers to access - like attainment- rather than addressing them.
September 2021
Admissions data key to informing upcoming higher education reforms
July 2021
New partnership with The Henry Smith Charity to back charities tackling school exclusions
May 2021
Young people from disadvantaged backgrounds have been hit hardest by this pandemic, in both their education and in the jobs market - their needs must be addressed by the Chancellor in the upcoming budget so they can avoid the long-term scarring effects of learning loss and long-term unemployment.
March 2021
The negative rhetoric about how so many – oftentimes too many – young people are going into higher education is becoming increasingly common.
February 2021
I joined Impetus as Director of Public Affairs in June 2016, the week the UK voted to leave the EU. Four and a half years on, the UK is preparing to leave. And my time is up too.
November 2020
Recently, Chancellor Rishi Sunak announced his plan for jobs. Our Director of Policy, Sam Windett, shares our response and what we should do next.
July 2020
Working in partnership with The Education Endowment Foundation (EEF), the Sutton Trust, and Nesta, Impetus has launched a new online tuition pilot to support disadvantaged pupils as schools begin to open for more pupils.
June 2020
Impetus' position on Ofqual's exceptional arrangements for exam grading and assessment
May 2020
Colleges need more support to help young people pass their GCSE in English and maths, writes Impetus policy and research manager Ben Gadsby.
May 2020
English and maths are often described as the most important subjects in education, but just how important are they? The ninth report in our Youth Jobs Gap series reveals for the first time the extent to which English and maths GCSEs lead to better outcomes for young people.
April 2020
University policy challenge whack-a-mole: People want a temporary set of student number caps to ensure the university sector survives the loss of international student income. What are the next set of moles that will appear if we take this option?
April 2020
Schools are being asked to take a lead as a front-line service for their communities. Ben Gadsby sets out some big ideas to make that happen
March 2020
Higher Education is one of the most topical issues in politics, with the UK government’s post-18 education and funding review (the Augur review) due to report back imminently. For the first time, this Youth Jobs Gap report analyses the Longitudinal Educational Outcomes (LEO) data, showing the clearest picture of disadvantaged young people and their access to higher education to date, including differences between different regions in England.
May 2019
The Government’s review of post-18 education and funding is expected to report shortly. It has been widely speculated that the advisory panel led by Philip Augar could recommend sweeping changes, including a cut to tuition fees. Together with the Russell Group and a coalition of social mobility charities, we've released a joint statement on the dangers of a university funding cut.
February 2019
This impact report tells the story of our 11-year partnership with IntoUniversity, totalling nearly £4 million worth of investment team hours, pro bono projects and funding. With our help, IntoUniversity are helping more and more disadvantaged young people – who are half as likely to get a university place than their peers – beat the odds.
November 2018
As a result of their partnership with Impetus, Action Tutoring re-designed their tutoring programme – making it longer, with a structured curriculum, baseline testing and regular monitoring – to see whether this would drive up impact. This impact story reveals what happened and what we’ve been doing with them to take their programme to the next level.
November 2018
In 2014, just over half of the pupils The Access Project was working with were from disadvantaged backgrounds and of these, 66% applied to a selective university and 33% got in. By 2017, following four years of partnership with Impetus, over 90% of pupils came from disadvantaged backgrounds and of those, 85% applied to a selective university and 53% got in. This story reveals how they did that.
November 2018
Our new analysis of GCSE resits has found that thousands of young people are taking English and maths exams for more than the third time. Some even resit as many as nine times.
August 2018
A lot of progress has been made on widening participation in higher education. But this may now be under threat. We need to maintain funding and ensure it is directed to what works – our Director of Public Affairs explains how.
June 2018
With the government’s review of post-18 education ongoing, and most of the debate seemingly centring on tuition fees, we must remember that widening participation work is essential to helping more disadvantaged young people access higher education.
June 2018
Magic Breakfast recently won a £24 million tender to deliver breakfast provision to children at 1,770 new schools in poor areas across England – a big increase from the 485 schools they currently serve. Impetus has been working with Magic Breakfast to tackle the challenge of how they can maintain their impact at a larger scale. This impact briefing reveals how.
April 2018
Who should be entitled to free school meals? With the introduction of universal credit to replace several benefits, the Department for Education has recently asked this very question. This policy briefing details our response, including concerns about the quality of data in the future
March 2018
As the dust settles on the Cabinet reshuffle, here are three priorities for new Education Secretary, Damian Hinds.
January 2018
A lot of the media surrounding exam results day focuses on the achievements of pupils at the top end of the ability or privilege spectrum. Our charity partner, Action Tutoring, shares some insights from their students.
August 2017
The new universities’ regulator Professor Sir Michael Barber prioritised improved access to university in his speech, but how do we deliver access for all regardless of background? In this joint blog, three leading charities, experienced in opening opportunities for disadvantaged young people, provide their assessment.
June 2017
The general election snapped, crackled and popped into life this morning with the Conservative manifesto backing the old adage that ‘breakfast is the most important meal of the day’.
May 2017
Philip Hammond has come in for so much stick for his budget that he might be grateful for some faint praise. So here it is: he’s half right on technical education.
March 2017
This report reveals the failure to give young people who fail their English and maths GCSEs the first time around with a second chance to succeed – irrespective of their background or their provider. Part of our Life After School campaign.
March 2017
2016 – not all bad! What’s the first word you think of when you look back on 2016? I can hazard a guess – ‘uncertain’, ‘tumultuous’, maybe ‘historic’, maybe something less polite! But for me the word is ‘inspiring’.
February 2017
Disadvantaged young people are half as likely to university compared to their better off peers. This briefing explores how universities can help improve school attainment and widen access to university.
December 2016
What does ‘disadvantaged’ young people mean? There are different ways of measuring disadvantage – from free school meals to household income. We use ‘Ever 6 FSM’ – pupils who have been looked after, in care, or eligible for free school meals in the past six years.
October 2016
A report released from TeachFirst today urges universities to spend their funds for widening access on teaching primary school children about university or poorer pupils will miss out. Our CEO, Andy, shares his thoughts on their report.
August 2016
In Newcastle, young people in care are more likely not to be in education, employment or training (NEET) by 19. Part of our Life After School campaign, this research shows that having good GCSEs helps to prevent young people becoming NEET.
June 2016
Our new CEO Andy Ratcliffe gives his thoughts on educational outcomes for disadvantaged 16-19 year olds, as part of Impetus-PEF’s Life After School campaign.
March 2016
This report reveals the journey of 16-19 year olds through education and training: who they are, how they perform, and where they go. Part of our Life After School campaign.
March 2016
The large number of young people not in education, employment or training (NEETs), has been a problem for over a decade. This report provides the case and details of a five-year strategy to ‘make NEETs history’.
October 2014
White British boys on free school meals are the lowest performing group at GCSE. Our charities reflect on their experience with white working class boys, the barriers they face, the successful methods to reach them and whether they can be used by schools.
June 2014
Young people not in education, employment or training (NEET) is a major problem in Britain – and it’s not going away on its own. This report analyses the drivers and impact of being NEET and provides steps that the government should take to solve the crisis.
January 2014