15th May 2025

In response to the following article published in The Telegraph, relating to virtual work experience (https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/2025/05/13/parliament-attacked-ludicrous-remote-work-experience-plan/)

While some criticisms may grab headlines, they don’t reflect the reality for many young people or the employers working hard to inspire and engage them.

The suggestion to fund two nurses is admirable but will not go far towards solving the 40,000 nursing vacancies in the UK. With a similar amount of total investment, working with our 60+ NHS partners, Springpod has supported 11,341 young people to enrol in high quality nursing work experience programmes, created with NHS experts. 84% of these young people indicate they are considering a career in nursing after completing the programme, resulting in a potential 9,500 new nurses. This would have been unachievable solely through in-person opportunities, stretched as the NHS is and with the limitations of bringing young people into hospital environments.

I could not agree more with the comment that “gaining experience of the workplace is being there, talking to people doing the job, seeing it in action.” However, the sad reality is that, for all the historic “initiatives” introduced by successive governments, only 36% of UK students currently get in-person work experience before they leave school. Virtual programmes aren’t a replacement. They complement in-person opportunities by widening access and giving students a way in, especially when location, money or lack of networks are a barrier. They are crafted to provide real-world tasks, developed in collaboration with our extensive network of over 200 partners. We imagine a world where every single young person has the opportunity to gain meaningful experience with these UK and global leaders, as well as gaining critical face to face skills only developed through in-person experiences.

Together with our partners, we have provided 1 million experiences to over 700,000 young people, generating £98m of social impact value. The young people we support are diverse; 63% female, 45% Global Majority, 22% free school meal recipients, 5% care experienced. Access to high quality work experience no longer depends on the type of networks enjoyed by the privileged few.

The huge challenges faced by youth and our country will not be solved by the same, dark-age approach which has failed previous generations and is letting down 64% of young people who do not obtain work experience. This has led to the record figure of 1m NEET young people and national skills shortages in critical industries. We are delighted to be working with forward-thinking political leaders, MPs and mayors across the country, as well as cornerstones of the education system including the UK Department for Education, UCAS and the Careers and Enterprise Company to democratise access to opportunity. 

This isn’t about lowering ambition. It’s about raising access. And the data backs it up:

• Over 1 million student enrolments
• 45% increase in career confidence
• 59% increase in job readiness
• £19 of social value returned for every £1 invested
• Students are 10% less likely to become NEET after engaging with early careers education programmes

We greatly welcome all calls to provide more opportunities to young people, in-person or virtual, and we look forward to getting back to our impact doing the talking.

Sam Hyams

CEO at Springpod