Social exclusion can be defined in different ways, but a prominent definition--in relation to young people in particular--is exclusion from formal learning and paid employment. This ignores the role of informal learning and the informal economies. In England, career guidance services were remodelled to deal with the issue of social exclusion by reducing the size of the NEET (not in education, employment or training) group. The result was a significant erosion of mainstream career guidance provision for young people and of the professional status of careers advisers. It is concluded that career guidance services can certainly play a prominent role in policies designed to tackle social exclusion but that this should not be at the expense of their wider roles in policies relating to education and training and to the labour market.