Industry backing sought for Feeding Britain’s Future
29 April 2026IGD seeks support from industry to commit to Feeding Britain’s Future to tackle workforce crisis.
IGD (Institute of Grocery Distribution) is urging the food and drink industry to commit to “Feeding Britain’s Future”: a movement that aims to mobilise the scale and diversity of the food system to equip young people to work and progress in the industry.
The initiative’s ultimate goal is to reverse NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training) numbers and inspire a generation to make their career in food and drink.
Naomi Kissman, Social Impact Director at IGD, commented: “Nearly a million young people are neither learning nor earning, they are the Gen Z NEETs, and the number is growing. They face a ‘jobpocalypse’ and the nation faces a lost generation as living costs rise and entry level employment opportunities dwindle.
“Meanwhile the food industry has its own quiet crisis brewing – workforce shortages and skills gaps mean as an industry that is relied on by everyone, every day, we risk affecting future availability and customer service. Addressing these challenges is not only a social imperative, but a commercial one – strengthening the future workforce on which our entire food system depends.”
There are currently 946,000 or 1 in 8 young adults NEET and with food and drink businesses struggling to fill essential roles, Feeding Britain’s Future is relaunching with a renewed focus.
Feeding Britain’s Future aims to help the industry address its long-term workforce shortages and skills gaps, by offering pathways and purpose to the next generation:
Scale meaningful engagement through Schools employability workshops
To reach over 50,000 students annually from 2027 through employability workshops that build essential skills such as communication, teamwork, and commercial awareness while bringing the food industry to life through real employer insights and interaction.
Offer modernised work experience
Move beyond traditional, limited placements to a blended model of work experience, combining virtual experiences, employer-led projects, site visits, and short placements making access more scalable, inclusive, and relevant to today’s workforce.
Equip the influencers who shape career choices
We will provide high-quality, accessible resources via careers platforms for students, teachers, and parents recognising that awareness of food careers is often low, and that teachers and parents are critical enablers in shaping perceptions and decisions.
Simon Roberts, Sainsbury’s CEO, commented: “Great jobs and brilliant people sit behind the good food we serve to our customers everyday but many young people today are struggling to get the experience they need to develop a fulfilling, vibrant career in our industry. Partnerships that open doors to opportunity, build skills and help people get real experience of roles across the food sector are essential to supporting future careers. We're proud to be supporting the IGD's Feeding Britian's Future programme, to help young people gain the experience they need to thrive in careers across our food system.”
Sarah Wilkinson, People Director at Morrisons, said: "Grocery retail creates opportunities in diverse communities all across the country. Feeding Britain’s Future amplifies this by improving core employability skills, introducing people to careers within our industry earlier, and strengthening pathways into employment all across the sector.”
Donna-Maria Lee, Chief People Officer at Greencore, commented: “From manufacturing to marketing, our industry offers many meaningful careers. That’s why we’re proud to support Feeding Britain’s Future: inspiring young people from all backgrounds to understand the skills employers need, explore the breadth of our industry, and see a future where they can belong, grow and succeed.”
Caroline Cater, VP, People & Culture at CCEP, said: “It is crucial to widen the pool of people who may want to join the food and drink industry, it's a vibrant sector with lots to offer at entry level whilst enabling interesting and rewarding careers. To make this happen we need to build future-ready skills, and create clear pathways through high quality apprenticeships that combine training with real-world experience. By working together as an industry, Feeding Britain’s Future helps address these priorities at scale and develop the talent pipeline and attraction that the industry urgently needs.”
Support Feeding Britain’s Future
Businesses can support Feeding Britain’s Future by delivering work experience, volunteering for school workshops, participating in campaigns, and recruiting other organisations within their supply chain.
To get involved, businesses can either email feedingbritain’[email protected] or visit the IGD website by 25 May 2026.
Renewed focus for an ongoing challenge
Feeding Britain’s Future was first launched in 2012 for the food industry to collectively tackle the national challenge of youth unemployment.
The programme saw 150 food businesses collaborate with local Job Centres across the UK to provide 30,000 young people with opportunities to develop skills for work.
In the last 10 years, IGD’s schools programme has also provided ‘skills for work’ training for over 133,000 young people, across a third of all UK secondary schools.
ENDS
The workforce crisis in numbers. For more detail, read IGD’s Quiet crisis report.
The UK food and drink sector employs 4.1 million people, one in every eight workers; that’s nearly twice the size of the NHS. Yet the industry faces persistent labour and skills shortages showing “little sign of improvement”.
Unemployment has risen by 652,000 since 2022 and economic inactivity now exceeds 9 million, revealing deep structural weaknesses in the UK labour market.
Unemployment rate: 5.2%, masking deep structural weaknesses.
366,000 young adults unemployed; 580,000 economically inactive.
Almost one million young adults (946,000) or 13% are NEET (Not in Education, Employment or Training), while food and drink businesses struggle to fill essential roles, signalling the growing disconnect between labour supply and industry need.
Economic inactivity among 18–24s has risen from 24% (1995) to 30% (2025).
Under 30 representation: 26% agriculture, 33% retail, 46% hospitality (vs 22% UK average).
IGD has trained over 133,000 students through its school’s programme.
A young person who has four or more encounters with employers is 86% less likely to be unemployed (careers and enterprise company).
Less than half of GCSE students undertake work experience.
There are on average 22,000 food system vacancies advertised at any one time (2025 average).
One third of the workforce is now over 50, up from 22% in 1995.
For media enquiries, please contact:
Press [email protected]
Notes to editors:
All content is owned by IGD. If you use or refer to any content in this press release, please credit IGD.
Follow us on LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/igd/
IGD brings together stakeholders from across the food system, fostering action across on critical challenges across a broad cross section of forums. Through evidence-based insights, credible research, and thought leadership, IGD guides businesses to make informed decisions that not only benefit their operations but also contribute to the collective good of society. As a charity with a long-standing commitment to the food and grocery industry, IGD does not advocate for any single commercial interest but works towards fostering alignment on shared goals that can have a positive, lasting impact on both the industry and the communities it serves. Its neutrality and impartiality are key to its role in facilitating collaboration, whether through policy development or addressing emerging risks and opportunities. By staying connected to the changing dynamics of the world, IGD ensures that the food system remains robust and sustainable, creating tangible benefits for businesses, consumers and society.