IGD has officially relaunched Feeding Britain’s Future, a movement that aims to mobilise the scale of the food system to build a skilled and future-ready workforce. The ambition is bold: to engage every UK secondary school by 2030, reverse NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training) numbers and inspire a generation to make their career in food and drink.

Today’s launch, held at County Hall, London, was attended by leaders from across the food and drink sector. A major new announcement unveiled at the event is a partnership with The Careers & Enterprise Company, the national body for careers education, to deliver high-quality, modern work experience for young people at scale, in collaboration with food businesses across the supply chain.

With youth unemployment surpassing one million, reaching a 12-year high, and following the publication of Alan Milburn’s recent Young People and Work interim report, there is growing consensus on the need to better support young people into the world of work and prevent a generation from becoming left behind. The impact of early, high-quality careers education and employer engagement in preventing disengagement and reducing the risk of young people becoming NEET is increasingly well understood. To address this, the government has an ambition for every young person to complete a minimum of two weeks’ worth of work experience by Year 11.

To support this, the pioneering new approach will move beyond traditional block placements for work experience, to a more flexible and scalable model, combining virtual experiences, employer-led projects, site visits and short placements. Designed to be more inclusive and relevant to today’s workplace, the model will help more young people access high-quality, modern work experience, while making it easier for employers to participate.

The new approach to work experience builds on IGD’s successful programme of school workshops which has reached 133,000 young people across a third of UK secondary schools since 2012. The workshops are supported by industry volunteers and are centred on NEET prevention, and evidence shows that prevention works: the highest quality careers provision reduces the likelihood of young people being NEET by eight per cent, with double the impact for young people who receive Free School Meals. As part of Feeding Britain’s Future, the school workshops will become part of a wider package of work experience for young people, to ensure they are getting those vital early interactions, with an ambition to reach 50,000 young people through school workshops in 2027.

The modernised work experience will pilot in 2026 with regional groups across the South, the Midlands and the North of England. Each group will bring together food businesses to create a joined-up ‘farm to fork’ experience for schools. Employers will be able to contribute in different ways, from one-hour engagements to multi-day experiences, allowing a much broader range of businesses to get involved.

The learnings from the pilot scheme will be used to develop resources, templates and guidance to enable committed businesses to deliver modern work experience at scale in 2027.

Alongside modern work experience, Feeding Britain’s Future will also focus on providing accessible, high-quality resources for students, teachers and parents through careers platforms and establishing strategic partnerships with universities to raise the profile of food and drink careers. Plus, free, cross industry early-career learning to build confidence and highlight long-term careers in food and drink, helping train 6,000 learners in 2026.

“Food and drink is one of the UK’s biggest and most diverse sectors, but too many young people still don’t see it as a place to build their future," said Sarah Bradbury, Chief Executive at IGD. "Through Feeding Britain’s Future, we want to change that by opening up access, raising awareness and creating meaningful experiences of work. I’m proud that, together, we are pioneering a more modern, flexible approach to work experience that is inclusive, relevant and better suited to the world of work today.”

Why Feeding Britain’s Future is crucial

The launch comes at a critical time for the sector. Food and drink is the UK’s largest private sector employer, supporting one in eight working-age people, yet labour and skills shortages are continuing to intensify across the value chain.

At the same time, over one million young people aged 16 to 24 are currently not in education, employment or training (NEET), underlining the urgent need for more coordinated action to connect young people with pathways into work.

Feeding Britain’s Future has been relaunched to help address both challenges: supporting businesses with future workforce needs while opening up more high-quality opportunities for young people to explore careers in the food system.

The programme builds on a strong foundation. Feeding Britain’s Future was first launched in 2012 to help the food industry respond collectively to the challenge of youth unemployment. Through the programme, 150 food businesses worked with local Jobcentres across the UK to help 30,000 young people develop skills for work. IGD’s schools programme has also delivered skills-for-work training to more than 133,000 young people across a third of UK secondary schools, demonstrating both the scale of the challenge and the sector’s ability to make a meaningful impact when it works together.

IGD is now calling on more food and drink businesses from across the supply chain to get involved in Feeding Britain’s Future. Businesses interested in joining the movement and finding out more can contact: feedingbritainsfuture@igd.com or visit: https://www.igd.com/social-impact/workforce/feeding-britains-future.

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