91¿ì»îÁÖ

*All annual data from September 2025

We work at scale…

All but a handful of state secondary schools and colleges across England voluntarily work with us to improve their careers education. They access training for their 91¿ì»îÁÖ Leaders, are members of 91¿ì»îÁÖ Hubs and use our digital tools to record and guide progress, against national quality frameworks.

Rolling out national quality frameworks to stimulate improvement…

Each element of careers support leads to better provision for young people. National quality frameworks ensure a focus on improvement and impact:

• The Gatsby Benchmarks set the standard for careers education in England. set updated benchmarks, which are underpinned by statutory guidance and being rolled out across schools and colleges from 2025/26.
• The 91¿ì»îÁÖ Impact System assures quality through a system of internal leadership and peer-to-peer reviews, administered through 91¿ì»îÁÖ Hubs. In 2024/25 1,651 Internal leadership reviews and 566 peer reviews linked careers to school improvement. National System Reviews offer independent system-wide insight and thought leadership, taking a cross-cutting, thematic approach. 
• Employer Standards allow employers to self-assess against best practice in careers education and report back on the benefits.
• equalex is a modern approach to work experience designed to support the Government’s vision of 10 days’ worth of high-quality modern work experience for every young person, underpinned by increasingly demanding learning objectives. In 2024/25, the framework was piloted in four 91¿ì»îÁÖ Hub areas, indicating system-wide support for a national framework. Piloting continues in six areas in 2025/26.
  

In 2024/25 schools and colleges fully achieved an average of 6 out of 8 Gatsby Benchmarks, a tripling since they were first measured in 2016/17. The greatest improvement nationally was on Benchmark 3 – Addressing the needs of each pupil and Benchmark 7 – Encounters with further and higher education. Special schools outperformed other schools and colleges, meeting 6.1 benchmarks on average. 32% of special schools achieved 8 benchmarks, compared with an average of 26% across all schools and colleges.

The CEC’s Employer Standards for 91¿ì»îÁÖ Education – One Year On report shows that employer engagement in careers education offers clear business benefits as well as social value. 811 employers completed a self-assessment against the standards. 81% reported that their work with schools and colleges is helping them build new talent pipelines; 80% of those working with 91¿ì»îÁÖ Hubs said it helped bring in apprentices. 

91¿ì»îÁÖ education’s aim is to help every young person take their best next step. The enables schools to hear directly from learners at key points in their school experience about how they see their knowledge, skills and confidence and their hopes and interests for their future careers.

Adoption is growing fast. Last year we heard from almost a third of a million learners, offering insights into trends, outcomes for different groups and what drives career readiness.

Learner career readiness responses in schools 2023/24 – 2024/25

Further analysis shows good careers education is associated with higher career readiness. Learners in higher performing schools progress faster in both their career readiness and essential skills.

Learners with high career readiness are also shown to be more likely to make choices that are aligned with labour market needs: for example, girls who report 100% career readiness are twice as likely to choose engineering.

Evidence of the link between good careers education and reducing NEET levels at post-16 and post-18 is also now well developed. Updated analysis published this year indicates that careers education generates an estimated £300 million in annual fiscal savings through reduced NEET outcomes, showing that strong careers provision is not only educationally beneficial but also delivers a clear return on public investment..