School leaving age is set to rise to 18

THE school leaving age is set to be raised to 18 on both sides of the Border, it emerged yesterday.

Alan Johnson, the education secretary at Westminster, has given the go-ahead for the current leaving age of 16 to be scrapped.

Jack McConnell, the First Minister, told the Scottish Labour conference last November that he wanted similar changes north of the Border.

Under the plans, which are set to form a key part of Labour's Holyrood manifesto, pupils would only be allowed to leave school at 16 if they were entering employment, training or further education.

Anton Colella, former head of the Scottish Qualifications Authority and now chief executive of the Institute of Chartered Accountants in Scotland, will look at measures needed to instigate the reforms.

The move is part of a set of measures aimed at tackling the so-called NEET group who are not in education, employment or training. If the proposals go forward, it would be the first change to the leaving age since 1972, when it was raised to 16.

A spokesman for the Department for Education and Skills said Mr Johnson was "definitely looking into it" but it would be "going too far" to say it would certainly happen.

However, it was reported that the change would take place by 2013, with youngsters who entered secondary school next year the first affected.

Mr Johnson said: "It should be as unacceptable to see a 16-year-old working, with no training, no education, as it is now to see a 14-year-old. A 14-year-old at work was common until the [post-Second World War] Butler changes, but now you would find it repellent."

Union leaders have given the plans a cautious welcome.