Thousands of young Londoners struggling to land a first job could get a foot in the door through a major new placements drive, as the retail industry joins forces with the government to open up 100,000 roles for young people by the end of this Parliament.
The scheme, called Opening Shift, has been put together by the Department for Work and Pensions and the British Retail Consortium. It will start with more than 11,000 supported work-experience placements aimed at 18 to 24-year-olds who are not in education, employment or training — the group officially known as NEET.
More than 40 high street names helped shape the programme, including the John Lewis Partnership, Costa Coffee, Amazon, Boots and Marks & Spencer.
Each placement lasts between two and four weeks and gives participants 16 to 35 hours of hands-on experience a week. Rather than simply dropping young people onto a busy shop floor, the scheme pairs them with dedicated workplace support and interview coaching designed to build the skills employers actually look for.
Key facts: the placements at a glance
- Who it is for: 18 to 24-year-olds not in education, employment or training.
- How many places: more than 11,000 supported placements, as part of a wider ambition of 100,000 retail jobs for young people.
- How long: two to four weeks, with 16 to 35 hours of practical experience each week.
- Money: taking part is voluntary — Universal Credit payments are unaffected and help with travel costs is available.
- Support: dedicated workplace mentoring plus real interview experience.
- What comes next: a permanent job where a vacancy exists, a place in a retailer’s talent bank, or a route into an apprenticeship.
The first-job catch-22
The programme is designed to break one of the most stubborn cycles in the jobs market. Employers routinely ask for experience, yet young people cannot gain experience until somebody gives them a first chance. For school leavers without family connections in an industry, that deadlock can stretch into months or even years out of work.
Retail has traditionally been one of the main escape routes. A first Saturday job or a Christmas temp role teaches the unglamorous fundamentals — turning up on time, dealing with customers, working as part of a team — and gives applicants something concrete to put on a CV. Opening Shift is an attempt to rebuild that first rung deliberately, for the young people the labour market has left behind.
Taking part is voluntary, and the practical barriers have been thought through: participants keep their Universal Credit entitlement in full and can get help with travel costs, two of the obstacles that most often stop young people taking up short placements.
The ambition goes beyond work experience alone. Where a permanent vacancy exists, a participant could be offered the job outright. Others could be added to a retailer’s talent bank for future openings, or steered towards an apprenticeship.
The launch comes as big chains keep expanding across the capital — discount supermarkets are opening dozens of new stores across London — a reminder of how much of the city’s entry-level hiring still happens on the high street.
What it means for young Londoners
Croydon is among the areas expected to feel the benefit, with young people across the borough in line for placements. But the ambition stretches across the capital, where high streets from Bromley to Brent remain one of the biggest sources of first jobs for 18 to 24-year-olds currently out of education, employment or training.
For those young Londoners, a structured placement with a national retailer could carry more weight than the informal routes — a friend of a friend, a family contact — that have traditionally decided who gets a start. It also sits alongside other efforts to help young people into work, including a dedicated youth skills hub in the City of London.
Pay matters too. For many, a first job is about more than a line on a CV, which is why campaigns for fairer pay across the capital, including the UK’s first Living Wage Zone in North Acton, argue that entry-level work has to be worth doing.
How to take part
Eligible young people will be able to find out more through their local Jobcentre, where work coaches can explain how placements are matched. Because the scheme is voluntary, there is no penalty for saying no — but for those ready to try, it offers something the jobs market rarely hands out: a genuine first chance.
