Sainsbury’s Launches 10,000 Work Experience Places: What It Means for Berkshire Students

On Tuesday 25 August, Sainsbury’s announced it will create around 10,000 work experience opportunities for young people over the next year. It is one of the biggest commitments of its kind from a UK employer — and the way it has been designed says a lot about where work experience is heading.

What has actually been announced

The programme is called KickStarter, and it runs in two strands.

KickStarter Explore is for 14 to 18 year olds. It combines in-school sessions with hands-on time in Sainsbury’s stores, depots and offices: store tours, meeting colleagues from logistics, technology and food, and following a product from farm to shelf. More than 5,000 places are planned, co-designed with The School Outreach Company.

KickStarter Insights is for 16 to 24 year olds and is more directly employability-focused — regional workshops on communication, interviews and applications, run with the youth employment charity Movement to Work and specialist partner Aim a Little Higher. Just over 200 places are planned in this strand.

Alongside those, Sainsbury’s is a founding participant in an industry pilot with The Careers & Enterprise Company and the Institute of Grocery Distribution, building a shared retail approach to work experience for 14 to 18 year olds. A further 5,000 opportunities are expected through Sainsbury’s own programmes, with plans to expand across its store network from 2027.

Why modern work experience is different

The phrase used throughout the announcement is modern work experience, and it is not just branding. The traditional model — one week in Year 10, arranged through whoever your parents happen to know — is being replaced by repeated, shorter contact with employers spread over time.

There is evidence behind the shift. Research by Education and Employers, cited in the announcement, found that repeated meaningful engagement with employers during school can cut the risk of becoming NEET by around 80 per cent. Sainsbury’s chief executive Simon Roberts, who started work at 16 himself, said the company sees every day “how much a first job can change lives”.

That matters locally. We wrote earlier this year about the nearly one million 16 to 24 year olds not in education, employment or training — more than one in eight. The barrier employers name most often is a lack of experience; the barrier young people name most often is not being able to get any. Programmes like this exist to break that loop.

What Berkshire students should do

Applications are not open yet. Marketing begins in September through The School Outreach Company and Movement to Work, with the first KickStarter events running in October.

If you are still at school or in Year 12 or 13, the route in is through your school or college — schools are being asked to register interest in KickStarter Explore by emailing Sainsburys@school-outreach.com. So tell your careers lead or tutor that you want your school signed up. At this stage, that one conversation is the whole application process.

If you are 16 to 24 and interested in the Insights workshops, the contact given is early.careers@sainsburys.co.uk.

Two honest caveats. Places are limited — just over 200 Insights places nationally is not many. And the programme is deliberately targeted at the communities facing the biggest barriers, including areas with high free school meal numbers and high NEET rates. Berkshire is a mixed picture: parts of Slough and Reading fit that profile squarely, while more affluent parts of Wokingham or Windsor may see less activity. Do not treat a national announcement as a guaranteed local opportunity.

What it means for Berkshire employers

Ten thousand places is significant, but set against a million young people it is a fraction of what is needed. The rest of the gap gets filled by smaller local employers — the garage in Newbury, the care home in Bracknell, the design agency in Maidenhead, the cafe in Windsor — each offering one or two placements.

You do not need a national programme or an early careers team to do this well. A couple of days, one named person to look after the student, and a task that genuinely needs doing is enough. Our practical guide for Berkshire employers covers the rest, including insurance and the rules around under-18s.

Find something local in the meantime

While you wait for KickStarter to open, there is no reason to sit still. Valueplacement lists work experience, industry placements, part-time jobs, apprenticeships and volunteering with employers across Reading, Slough, Bracknell, Newbury, Maidenhead, Wokingham and Windsor — and it is completely free for students. Have a look at the Find Opportunities page to see what is open near you.

And if you are a local employer who read the Sainsbury’s announcement and thought you would like to do something similar at your own scale: you can. Register as an employer and post an opportunity — it takes a few minutes, and for a young person nearby it could be the first door that opens.