Burnham urges businesses to offer work placements to help tackle Neets crisis

Sophie Wingate, Press Association Deputy Political Editor

Andy Burnham has urged UK business to follow the example of Sainsbury’s after the retailer announced 10,000 work experience opportunities for young people to tackle youth unemployment.

The Prime Minister said the number of young people not in education, employment or training (Neet) – which has topped one million – is a “huge challenge” which employers need to help address.

He toured Sainsbury’s Nine Elms on Wednesday after the supermarket group unveiled a programme designed to help more young people in deprived areas into work from October, including workplace visits, careers sessions and practical work experience across England, Scotland and Wales.

The scheme will target communities with high levels of Neets and schools offering free school meals.

Mr Burnham told reporters: “This is a really positive development today.

“One of the biggest British brands out there, Sainsbury’s, coming forward and saying 10,000 placements for young people, work placements, apprenticeships. This is exactly what we need.

“We need a national drive to challenge youth unemployment and give more opportunities for our young people, and I would ask other businesses to do the same.

“We have a huge challenge: too many young people are out of work – but it can be fixed.

“I think we need to fix the education system, which is what I’m doing as well, giving young people technical paths alongside the academic route.

“But then we need employers to step forward and offer those work placements too.”

The Prime Minister last month unveiled plans for new technical education routes for 14-year-olds that will be put on an equal footing with traditional academic pathways.

Mr Burnham was joined on his tour of the superstore by Sainsbury’s chief executive Simon Roberts, Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden and London Mayor Sir Sadiq Khan.

As the Prime Minister chatted to a shopper at the self-checkouts, the man told him he hailed from Manchester and “London isn’t for me”. Mr Burnham quipped: “I’m adapting.”

The Labour leader also spoke to 14 to 16-year-olds on a summer careers programme. He told them about his first work experience, when his interest in languages meant he was placed at a travel agent in St Helens.

“The experience was, let’s say, hard,” he said, adding “it wasn’t wasted” as he realised that line of work was not for him.

“You won’t fall on your feet straight away,” he told the young people, noting “it takes a little while” to find the right career path.

The “modern work experience programme” by Sainsbury’s will offer younger students a combination of school-based learning and workplace experience, while older participants will receive support with CV writing, interview skills, job applications and career planning.

The latest data, published in May, showed the number of young people aged 16-24 neither working nor learning surpassed one million – nearly one in seven – for the first time since 2013, reaching 1.01 million in the three months from January to March.

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