Jobless to be offered 'guaranteed interview' as Gatwick Airport and McDonalds join government work placement scheme

More than 300,000 new work experience and training placements - including those in industries including construction and hospitality - will be available as part of "job related training".

Speaking with Nick Ferrari at Breakfast, Pensions Minister and Labour MP for Swansea West, Torsten Bell, said the scheme "means that young people in the benefits system receiving universal credit can be referred by advisors" to fill one of the tens of thousands of places.

The spots will be offered "over the course of the next three years to make sure that more young people have the experience of work" the MP said.

"One of the big changes we've seen over the last two decades is that many people get through their teens and actually into their early twenties having never worked. And starting work is just a really important part of the learning process."

The 300,000 new placements over the next three years are backed by some of Britain’s biggest employers, Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden said.

These include Manchester and Gatwick airports, and the Government has vowed placements will reach young people across the country.

Speaking of his own experience, the Labour minister told Nick: "My first part of work experience was washing up in a pub. I learned two things.

"One, you need to wash up very, very fast when you're a 15 year old in a busy pub.

"But secondly, it's, you know, earning your own money is a very good thing to do."

The placements, also expected to include health and social care, have been confirmed just a day after a report warning of the risk of a “lost generation”.

The number of the UK’s 16 to 24-year-olds not in employment, education or training – known as Neets – rose to more than a million, figures published on Thursday confirmed.

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Former Labour cabinet minister Alan Milburn, who was tasked with leading the review into Neets, wrote that lack of work experience is “the single most-cited barrier to work amongst young people”.

His report said: “At present, the provision of work experience is an afterthought for many schools. Students are often told to find their own placements. Unsurprisingly, those without strong networks and connections are more likely to miss out.”

The review author said the “first rung of the career ladder has thinned” and is now “simply out of reach” for many young people.

He added: “That places them in a hopeless Catch-22 where employers ask for work experience but the opportunities for young people to gain it have narrowed or gone.”

The Department for Work and Pensions said the 300,000 placements will comprise of work experience and what are known as Sector-based Work Academy Programmes (Swaps).

The latter are short Government-funded programmes for jobseekers claiming benefits, offering training, hands-on experience of the workplace and a guaranteed job interview, the department said.

Mr McFadden said: “The evidence is clear, give young people real work experience and the chances of them building a lasting career increase dramatically.

“That’s why we are creating 300,000 new placements, backed by some of Britain’s biggest employers, to give young people the skills, confidence and connections they need to get on.

“This generation deserves every opportunity to succeed, and this Government is determined to deliver it.”