Tesco, Marks & Spencer, John Lewis and more than 40 major retailers have joined a new industry-wide push to help 100,000 young people into retail jobs by 2029.
The British Retail Consortium has teamed up with the Department for Work and Pensions to launch Opening Shift, a work experience programme aimed at 18 to 24-year-olds who are not in employment, education or training.
More than 11,300 placements have already been pledged by retailers including Aldi, Amazon, Asda, Boots, Currys, Greggs, JD Sports, Morrisons, New Look, Pets at Home, Primark, Tesco and the John Lewis Partnership.
The voluntary placements will run for between two and four weeks, with participants working between 16 and 35 hours a week while continuing to receive Universal Credit.
Each participant will be given a workplace ‘buddy’ and guaranteed an interview at the end of the placement, with retailers aiming to move candidates into permanent jobs where vacancies are available. Jobcentres will help connect eligible young people with the opportunities.
The programme forms part of the retail sector’s ambition to support 100,000 young people who are NEET into employment by the time of the next general election in 2029.
Close to one million people aged between 16 and 24 are currently not in employment, education or training. Former health secretary Alan Milburn has warned the figure could climb to 1.25 million over the next five years without intervention.
Former M&S boss Marc Bolland, who has been working with the government on tackling youth worklessness, helped develop Opening Shift alongside the BRC and DWP.
Bolland said his experience founding employment charity Movement to Work had demonstrated “what’s possible when business and government work together to open doors for young people”.
He urged more retailers to participate as the scheme seeks to break the cycle in which young people struggle to find work because they lack previous experience.
BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson said retail was “uniquely placed to make a difference” because of the sector’s scale and presence across the country.
She added that work experience represented a first step but warned that retailers would also need the right conditions to invest and create more entry-level positions.
Retail and its supply chain currently account for almost a quarter of youth employment in Britain.
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