How OCS, Everton FC and Everton in the Community Are Creating Employment Routes for Young People

OCS is putting the government-backed Youth Guarantee into practice, helping young people gain workplace experience, recognised skills and paid employment at Everton Stadium.

Almost one million young people in the UK are currently outside education, employment or training. The latest figures from the Office for National Statistics estimate that 981,000 people aged 16 to 24 were categorised as NEET between April and June 2026. This represents 13 per cent of the age group. Among 18 to 24-year-olds, the figure was 894,000, or 15.2 per cent.

The category includes young people with very different circumstances. Some are actively looking for work. Others are living with poor mental health or disability, caring for family members, experiencing insecure housing or have become disconnected from education, employment services and the benefits system.

The Young People and Work interim report, led by the Rt Hon Alan Milburn, describes this as a national crisis of opportunity. It identifies the combined effects of ill health, inequality, school absence, limited work experience, fewer entry-level jobs and recruitment systems that can be difficult for inexperienced applicants to navigate.

The report found that 45 per cent of 24-year-olds categorised as NEET had never held a job. Almost half of young people in the wider NEET group reported having a disability, while one in five reported a mental health condition. Only 36 per cent felt ready for work when they left education, and young people most often cited a lack of work experience as the barrier.

The practical response requires accessible first opportunities (a first chance), real workplace experience, recognition of potential, support during the transition into work, and a clear route into sustained employment.

Why Facilities Management Can Provide a Route Into Work

Facilities management provides local employment in hospitals, schools, airports, offices, transport networks, industrial sites, visitor attractions and public venues. Many roles offer a first step into employment, supported by practical learning and on-the-job training, as well as recognised qualifications.

Young people can build experience in a working environment and progress into supervision, management, and specialist careers, including engineering, security, compliance, energy, data, and technical services.

The work is rooted in teams. A young person learns alongside experienced colleagues, builds confidence through regular contact with others, and sees the direct contribution their work makes to customers and the public.

This combination of local jobs, practical learning, human support and visible progression addresses several of the factors identified by the Milburn Review. It provides experience, makes recruitment more personal and creates the routine, connection and sense of purpose that can help people remain engaged in work.

Facilities management also operates at a scale few sectors can match. Employers such as OCS have jobs in almost every local labour market, including many of the communities where youth unemployment and economic inactivity are concentrated.

Putting the Youth Guarantee Into Practice at Everton

The OCS Academy at Everton Stadium shows how this can work. Delivered with Everton in the Community and supported through the government-backed Youth Guarantee Trailblazer programme, the pilot combines accredited training, workplace experience and guaranteed interviews.

Fifteen young people completed Basic First Aid, Level 2 Spectator Safety and Action Counters Terrorism training before gaining experience inside the stadium. Thirteen have since secured part-time employment, while the remaining two have progressed to second interviews.

Jane Strange, OCS Account Manager at Everton Stadium, leads the programme operationally. Jane and her team introduce participants to the workplace, set clear expectations, provide practical support and help each person become part of a matchday operation involving around 200 OCS colleagues.

Jane Strange, OCS Account Manager at Everton Stadium, said:

Jane has seen participants move from being anxious about entering an unfamiliar workplace to working independently and helping newer colleagues settle into their roles. One young person joined the programme after leaving university and spending an extended period away from education and employment. He now works regularly at matchday and other stadium events and has returned to university to continue his degree.

Jane Strange said: “For someone to move from staying in their bedroom and feeling uncertain about the future to working regularly and returning to university is an amazing change. To know that we have helped them take those steps is hugely rewarding.”

Local Knowledge Connected to Real Employment

Everton in the Community provides the trusted local relationship. Its team understands each individual, the circumstances affecting them and the support they may need. Everton FC provides an environment that matters to the local community, while OCS provides training, workplace experience, supervision, interviews, and the opportunity to move into paid employment.

Maxine Roberts, Adult Enrichment Manager at Everton in the Community, said:

The Academy builds on wider inclusive recruitment activity delivered by Everton in the Community, OCS and the Department for Work and Pensions. Ahead of Everton’s move to its new stadium, 214 local people took part in interviews and employment conversations at Goodison Park. A total of 154 were offered roles across Everton and OCS contracts, representing a 72 per cent conversion from engagement to job offer.

Following his visit to Everton in the Community’s People’s Hub, Pat McFadden, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, said:

The Capacity to Take the Model Further

OCS employs 56,514 people across the UK and Ireland, with around 80 per cent working on customer sites. In 2025, the business hired 3,500 people aged 18 to 24, accounting for one in five of all recruits.

OCS currently supports almost 1,000 apprentices across the UK and Ireland, with 256 more preparing to start. So far in 2026, 832 people have joined through inclusive recruitment partnerships. Almost two-thirds of those recruited into permanent roles were still working with OCS six months later.

These are encouraging early results for programmes designed to help people enter work, settle into their roles and build lasting careers.

The business also delivers supported internships for young people with special educational needs and disabilities at Chessington World of Adventures and LEGOLAND. These programmes combine extended workplace experience with support from a dedicated job coach.

OCS is also working directly with DWP on opportunities to connect work experience, Sector-based Work Academy Programmes, apprenticeships and permanent vacancies across its national customer estate.

The Everton programme provides a model that can be applied more widely: a trusted local partner, a clear route into a real workplace, trained operational managers, support during the early stages of employment and a job with room to progress.