Failure to put teenagers on the right track at school or college costs the public purse £814m each year – equivalent to £1 in every £8 spent by the Government on post-16 education and skills, research has shown.

A Centre for Economic and Social Inclusion study undertaken for the Local Government Association finds 178,100 16-18-year-olds dropped out of courses they began in 2012/13 and are at risk of becoming not in employment, education or training (NEET).