A significant number of UK businesses are avoiding offering work experience placements to school pupils, with many citing excessive time demands and staffing constraints as key barriers, according to new research.
Time Constraints Top Business Concerns
Two in five businesses (41%) that don't provide work experience opportunities say the process is too time-consuming, a comprehensive survey by The Careers & Enterprise Company (CEC) has revealed. The research, which polled 750 senior business leaders across the country, found that just over half (52%) currently offer any form of work experience to young people.
The challenges extend beyond mere time constraints. Approximately one-third of business leaders reported lacking sufficient staff capacity to properly supervise young people (33%), while a similar proportion (34%) said they struggle to identify suitable tasks for work experience students.
Government Ambitions Meet Practical Realities
These findings emerge against the backdrop of government plans outlined in the post-16 education and skills white paper, which promises to deliver at least two weeks of work experience for all secondary school students. The proposal aims to split this into one week during years seven to nine and another week in years 10 to 11.
However, the traditional two-week block format appears increasingly impractical. More than half of businesses (58%) surveyed described the conventional two-week work experience model as excessively time-consuming, raising questions about how the government's ambitious targets can be realistically achieved.
The urgency of addressing these challenges is underscored by recent Office for National Statistics data showing that nearly a million young people (946,000) were not in employment, education or training between July and September.
Call for Flexible Solutions
The CEC is advocating for a radical shift away from traditional approaches, proposing shorter, more flexible work experience placements that could be more easily accommodated by businesses. This new model would still fulfil the government's requirement for weeks of experience but through more manageable, targeted opportunities.
Baroness Nicky Morgan, former Conservative education secretary and current CEC chairwoman, emphasised the need for change at a recent CEC event. "This is very much a new attempt to break away from two-week block work experiences that for too long been found to be inflexible, impractical, and out of reach for many students and employers," she stated.
The survey revealed strong business support for making it easier to collaborate with schools, with three-quarters (75%) of respondents saying simplified processes would make them more likely to offer work experience placements.
Bridging the Skills Gap
Gemma Marsh, deputy chief executive officer of Skills England, highlighted the critical importance of work experience during the same CEC event. "Work experience is absolutely fundamental to ensuring that young people have that line of sight to where they need to get to," she remarked.
The need for improved career preparation is evident, with more than two-thirds of businesses (68%) reporting that entry-level candidates arrive underprepared for the world of work. Industry leaders argue that early, meaningful exposure to workplace environments could significantly address this skills gap.
Ellis Potter, head of apprenticeships and careers at The Priory Federation of Academies Trust, stressed the mutual benefits of effective work experience programmes. "We can only deliver this if more employers get involved. When businesses open their doors, our students gain a clearer sense of what work really looks like and leave school even more prepared for their future pathways," he explained.
However, Paul Whiteman, general secretary at school leaders' union NAHT, cautioned that systemic barriers must be addressed. "School leaders recognise that work experience and high-quality careers advice are vital in helping young people plan for their future. However, simply expecting schools to deliver work experience, without considering some of the systemic barriers, including the capacity and buy-in of businesses across the country, could leave the promise of universal work experience out of reach," he warned.
The CEC is now calling on both schools and employers to embrace their new approach to work experience, which prioritises early intervention and targets support toward young people who might otherwise miss out on valuable workplace exposure.
