Tesco and John Lewis among UK firms in pledge to create 100,000 jobs to tackle Neets crisis

Thousands of work experience placements are set to be provided ’s major retail brands as part of a broader government push to tackle youth unemployment. Named "Opening Shift", the initiative will connect young universal credit claimants directly with opportunities at businesses including Tesco, John Lewis, Curry’s and Costa Coffee. Around 40 retailers have signed up so far, pledging more than 11,000 placements that last between two to four weeks. Participating firms will also offer an interview at the end of the placement, aiming to recruit as many candidates as possible. The placements will be voluntary, and young people will keep receiving their universal credit where eligible. Organised (DWP) and the British Retail Consortium (BRC), the programme forms part of plans to create 100,000 jobs for young people not in education, employment or training – so-called "Neets" – before the next election. Speaking during a visit to John Lewis in London’s Oxford Street, Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden said the scheme would offer young Neets "huge" benefits. High-quality work experience is essential to fix this problem and Opening Shift is a major contribution to delivering it.” 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. Ministers have commissioned Blair-era cabinet minister Alan Milburn to come up with recommendations for cutting youth unemployment, and 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”. Mr McFadden said he hoped to expand the scheme beyond the retail sector, encouraging other businesses to make similar commitments. He said: “Together, we can say that this is a cause for the UK, that we are not simply going to sit back and accept the situation where 1 million young people are not engaged in productive economic activity.”