UK retailers to create 100,000 placements for young people out of work

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The work and pensions secretary, Pat McFadden, speaks to staff at the John Lewis store on London’s Oxford Street for an announcement of the scheme. Photograph: Yui Mok/PA View image in fullscreen The work and pensions secretary, Pat McFadden, speaks to staff at the John Lewis store on London’s Oxford Street for an announcement of the scheme. Photograph: Yui Mok/PA Youth unemployment UK retailers to create 100,000 placements for young people out of work In partnership with DWP, firms such as John Lewis and M&S plan to offer 18- to 24-year-olds placements of two to four weeks

Prefer the Guardian on Google UK retailers plan to create up to 100,000 short-term placements for young people not in employment, education or training (Neet) over the next three years to give them a first step on the ladder to paid work.

In partnership with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), more than 40 retailers, including Marks & Spencer, Pets at Home , Asda and the John Lewis Partnership, will offer Neets aged 18-24 placements of two to four weeks to gain “the skills and confidence needed to take their first step into work”.

The move comes after the former health secretary Alan Milburn warned in a recent report that the 1 million Neets in the UK could rise to 1.25 million over the next five years unless ministers intervened.

Milburn, who is leading a review into Britain’s crisis in youth worklessness, welcomed the retailers’ initiative, saying too many young people were stuck in a vicious cycle of “no experience, no job”, leaving them shut out of employment opportunities.