John Lewis, Tesco, Currys and Costa Coffee are among 40 big British businesses teaming up with the government to offer young people thousands of work experience placements. The placements will be given directly to young universal credit claimants in a programme dubbed 'Opening Shift' to tackle youth unemployment.
Over 11,000 placements on offer
Some 40 retailers have signed up to provide over 11,000 placements, giving young people work experience between two and four weeks. They will also offer those young people an interview at the end of their placement, aiming to take on as many as possible.
The placements will be voluntary, and young people will continue to receive their universal credit where eligible. The programme – organised by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and the British Retail Consortium (BRC) – is part of plans to create 100,000 jobs for young people not in education, employment or training (NEETs) by the next election.
Minister and retailers back scheme
Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden said the placements would offer young people 'huge' benefits. “They are quite often caught in a bind of no experience, no job. About 60 percent of Neets have never had a job and this cuts through that,” he told the PA. “Once they get that [experience], the chances of getting hired in a long-term paid job go up hugely, every senior manager of a business tells you that.”
An estimated 981,000 people aged between 16 and 24 were classified as Neet between April and June 2026. While this was a slight fall from the more than 1 million Neets in the first quarter of the year, the figure remains 30,000 higher than in 2025.
BRC chief executive Helen Dickinson said: “Retail is coming to the rescue for tens of thousands of young people struggling to take their first step on the career ladder. Too many are trapped in a no experience, no job doom loop. High-quality work experience is essential to fix this problem and Opening Shift is a major contribution to delivering it.”
Review warns of rising NEET numbers
In May, government adviser Alan Milburn warned that Britain risked a 25 pc rise in the number of Neets to 1.25 million by the early 2030s without urgent government action. The former Labour health secretary is leading a government-commissioned review into youth economic inactivity, expected to call for steps to overhaul schools, the health service, welfare system and jobs market.
He has recruited former M&S chairman Marc Bolland to work with businesses to get young people into jobs. Mr Bolland, who played a key role in organising the BRC work experience programme, said the announcement created 'thousands more opportunities for young people to build a future in one of Britain’s biggest industries'.
Here is a full list of the retailers taking part in the programme: Aldi, All Saints, Amazon, Ann Summers, Asda, B&M, B&Q, Bensons, Booths, Boots, Currys, Dobbies, Dr Martens, Dunelm, Fishpools, Greggs, Holland & Barrett, House of Bruar, Iceland, JD Sports, John Lewis Partnership, JoJo Maman Bebe, Lakeland, Liberty, Marks & Spencer, Morrisons, Mountain Warehouse, New Look, Next, Our Coop, Pets at Home, Pret, Primark, Savers, Screwfix, Superdrug, Tesco, The Perfume Shop, The Works, Very Group, and Wickes.
