Business leaders unite to take action to reduce number of young people not learning or earning

Business leaders unite to take action to reduce number of young people not learning or earning

March 18, 2026

Business leaders unite to take action to reduce number of young people not learning or earning

Today, business leaders visited the London borough of Newham to see the impact of interventions in schools that can prevent children from becoming NEET (not in education, employment, or training) and to discover how they can support young people into employment. This visit is the first in a series of visits focusing on the issue of youth unemployment, and is part of Business in the Community’s (BITC) The King’s Seeing is Believing programme, supported by Salesforce UK & Ireland and Linklaters LLP.

This visit series is intended to mobilise action across the UK through BITC’s Opening Doors campaign.[2] Through this campaign, businesses are coming together to learn, share, and shape the future of inclusive recruitment, creating equal opportunities for those furthest from the labour market. 

The visit comes as data from ONS shows that 957,000 young people in the UK aged 16-24 are not in education, employment, or training.[3] However, research has found that young people who have four or more meaningful employer interactions with the world of work are significantly less likely to end up unemployed.[4] Analysis by Youth Futures Foundation has found that if the UK reduced its NEET rate from one in eight young people to one in 20, this could enable 567,000 more young people to be in work or education and could generate £86 billion in long-term economic benefits for the UK economy.[5] Furthermore, six in 10 young people say more connections to local employers are needed to address the youth unemployment gap.[6] 

The visit, led by Peter Harrison, Non-Executive Chair of Morgan Sindall Group and Chair of Business in the Community, brought business leaders from organisations including Bank of England, GlaxoSmithKline, Lloyds Banking Group, Linklaters LLP, Morgan Sindall Group, Serco UK & Europe, Severn Trent, Sodexo, The London School of Economics and Political Science, and Youth Futures Foundation together to learn about the risks of inaction and the power of business engagement. 

During the visit, business leaders had the opportunity to hear about the vital work of organisations aligned to the work of BITC’s Opening Doors campaign, including: 

  • Catch 22 – an organisation delivering employability programmes to equip young people who face significant barriers to entering the labour market with the confidence, skills, and coaching needed to secure and sustain good work.[7] 
  • Eastlea Community School – a diverse school operating in an area with a high level of social deprivation, with more than half of its students qualifying for free school meals and nearly six in 10 speaking English as an additional language.[8] 
  • Thales – a global technology and defence company already engaging with schools through partnerships and initiatives to mentor students and run practical STEM challenges, as well as connecting this engagement with its apprenticeship and graduate schemes.[9] 

Peter Harrison, Non-Executive Chair of Morgan Sindall Group and Chair of Business in the Community, said: 

Young people are the future of the workforce, and it is the responsibility of businesses to ensure they can reach their full potential when entering and staying in work. I am delighted to have led one of The King’s Seeing is Believing visits for the first time today. As Chair of Business in the Community, I previously had the pleasure of attending a visit to Manchester, and I was struck by the moving and inspiring stories of the community organisations and residents of the communities visited, as well as the success stories from organisations and initiatives that are already in place to support them. Today’s visit highlighted the importance of businesses coming together to take collective action and the role of Business in the Community in enabling this.

Ndidi Okezie OBE, newly appointed Chief Executive of Business in the Community, said:

Mobilising to increase opportunities to get into and stay in employment sits at the heart of what BITC does, and that’s why the Opening Doors campaign is so impactful. Taking part in a King’s Seeing is Believing visit shows you the impact of what happens when businesses, local government, and community organisations come together to solve a problem. We know this kind of cross-sector collaboration is where real change comes from. Having so many business leaders with us today shows that there is appetite to act. These leaders understand they can help to reduce the number of young people not learning or earning, champion inclusive recruitment, and back the communities they operate in. Our goal is to make this impact much more visible. The more leaders who see what is possible when sectors come together like this, the more will hopefully step up and do their part.

The King’s Seeing is Believing programme was established by the then Prince of Wales in 1990. The programme, supported by Salesforce and Linklaters LLP, was born from a simple but powerful belief that the best way to close the gap between the boardroom and the community was to take business leaders out to the communities and, through the power of experiential learning, to inspire and challenge participants. The visits are designed to encourage business leaders to think strategically about the implications for their own businesses and the practical actions that can be taken in response, leading to meaningful and sustained impact for both businesses and communities. To date, over 25,000 business leaders have taken part in the Seeing is Believing programme which has led to many initiatives being set up including Career Ready, Ban the Box, and mentoring circles in collaboration with the Department for Work and Pensions.   

ENDS

Notes to editor

For further information, please contact Polly Dacam, Senior Public Affairs and Media Officer, on 020 7566 6638.

About Business in the Community

Business in the Community (BITC) champions responsible business as essential for long term economic growth and resilience.   
 
It is the UK’s leading responsible business network, working with companies of all sizes to tackle society’s most pressing challenges from climate change and place-based community regeneration to inequality, workplace wellbeing, and inclusive growth.  
  
Founded by His Majesty King Charles III in 1982, BITC has over four decades of experience in engaging business and delivering measurable impact in both business and in communities through evidence-based interventions. 

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