Feeding Britain's Future
24 July 2012In 2012, in the context of high rates of youth unemployment, IGD developed Feeding Britain’s Future, in collaboration with Jobcentre Plus.
The programme saw food businesses up and down the country, open their doors in the month of September to develop the skills of unemployed people.
150 businesses built strong relationships in local Job Centres across the UK, providing 30,000 young people with the opportunities to develop skills for work.
Skills for Work Month, as it was known, ran until 2017.
During the same period, research was published by the Education and Employment Foundation, highlighting that young people who meet with employers whilst at school are five times less likely to become “not in employment, education or training (NEET)”.
Therefore in 2014, Feeding Britain’s Future programme expanded to work with young people in secondary schools, providing high quality careers interventions (workshops) to inspire young people to consider careers in food.
By 2018 the programme had grown significantly, with 2,500 industry volunteers supporting 450 schools workshops. IGD also developed a School Partnership programme, supporting businesses to partner directly with schools and colleges.
In 2020, to support schools during the Covid-19 pandemic, IGD launched virtual workshops. This format has proven popular with schools, and has enabled IGD to increase the number of young people benefiting from these workshops.
In the last 10 years, IGD’s schools programme has provided ‘skills for work’ training for 133,000 young people, across a third of all UK secondary schools.
If you would like to support IGD’s schools programme in 2026 you can register here.