By Claire Green, ASCL Post-16 and Skills Specialist

At the Labour Party Conference 2025, the Prime Minister announced a bold new ambition:

“Schools will play a greater role in ensuring every pupil has a clear post-16 destination, supported by Ofsted, with a new approach to a guaranteed college or FE provider place available as a safety net being tested.”

This vision aligns with ASCL’s longstanding commitment to improving outcomes for young people. But while the ambition is laudable, it must be matched with infrastructure, funding, and collaborative frameworks. The mention of Ofsted is concerning; framing this as another accountability measure risks undermining its intent.

What schools already do
Schools are already deeply invested in supporting post-16 transitions. Under current legislation, they are required to provide independent careers guidance to pupils from age 11 to 18. This includes:

• one-to-one guidance conversations with qualified careers advisers
• access to a range of education and training providers, as mandated by the Baker Clause (Section 42B of the Education Act 1997), which requires schools to give providers of technical education and apprenticeships the opportunity to talk to pupils
• careers programmes that include labour market information, work experience, employer engagement, and support for decision-making

Many schools go further, engaging with alumni and offering careers fairs and bespoke support for vulnerable learners. The Gatsby Benchmarks have helped drive consistency and quality in careers provision, and Ofsted considers the effectiveness of careers guidance in its inspections.  

The challenge of guaranteeing destinations
Guaranteeing a post-16 destination for every student is a significant step beyond current practice. It implies not just guidance and signposting, but a formal responsibility to ensure every young person has a confirmed place in education, training, or employment. To make this work, schools will need:

1. Access to trained careers professionals: provision is patchy and underfunded. Every school must have access to qualified staff with capacity to support all students, especially those at risk of becoming NEET.
2. Collaborative local infrastructure: schools cannot do this alone. Strong partnerships with colleges, training providers, employers, and local authorities are essential. Labour’s proposal for a “guaranteed college or FE provider place” must be backed by coordinated local offers and sufficient capacity. This requires shared data systems to track applications, joint planning to ensure sufficient places, along with broad curriculum offers and clear referral pathways. This is a major undertaking given the diversity of providers and admissions systems.
3. Funding and resources: guaranteeing destinations requires targeted investment to embed careers professionals within schools, allocate adequate time for transition planning and follow-up, and establish robust systems to track and support students beyond their school years.

Colleges also need resources to expand provision and support students with complex needs. Rising admissions, English and maths resit requirements, and grade 4 (or higher) entry thresholds in many school sixth forms are already straining capacity. With FE teachers paid significantly less than school counterparts and high attrition rates, the policy risks being out of touch with sector realities.

A system-wide responsibility
ASCL welcomes Labour’s focus on post-16 transition. With 948,000 young people NEET, the ambition is timely. But success depends on shared responsibility across the system - not just schools - and must not overburden the FE sector.

We urge the government to:

• invest in careers guidance and qualified professionals
• facilitate local collaboration with clear roles for all stakeholders
• fund the infrastructure needed to deliver guaranteed destinations
• support the FE sector to meet increased demand
• maintain curriculum breadth to avoid qualifications gaps
• avoid linking this strategy to Ofsted or accountability frameworks

With the right support, schools can play a leading role in transforming post-16 outcomes. But they cannot do it alone.