Overview
- The Department for Work and Pensions and the British Retail Consortium unveiled 'Opening Shift' on Monday, with about 40 retailers pledging more than 11,000 two-to-four-week placements for young people not in education, employment or training.
- Tesco committed 5,000 placements and major chains including John Lewis, Boots, Asda, Marks & Spencer and Costa are participating, with businesses offering an interview to every placement completer.
- Placements are voluntary, reported as unpaid by some outlets, and will allow eligible participants to remain on Universal Credit while taking part in the scheme.
- Ministers have set an ambition to convert those placements into as many as 100,000 permanent jobs by 2029 and have enlisted Marc Bolland to coordinate business engagement and Alan Milburn to recommend wider policy measures.
- Key uncertainties remain over how many placements will turn into paid roles and whether the model will scale beyond retail, and the programme responds to persistently high NEET numbers, about 981,000 people aged 16–24 in April–June 2026.