Unpaid temporary work experience Toolkit resources

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Unpaid temporary work experience

Unpaid temporary work experience may increase participation in education and can be part of a pathway to longer-term employment.

Last updated: 26 August 2026

Education

Employment

Training

4 fewer young people in work per 100

For every 100 young people who are NEET and take part in unpaid temporary work experience as a component of a targeted youth employment intervention, around 4 fewer young people are in employment 12 to 24 months later compared to similar young people who did not take part. This component could decrease recent employment by around 4 to 5 percentage points. However it could have a substantial positive impact on longer-term employment.

Key findings

Headline insights about this component based on current high-quality evidence

Longer-term

Education participation

Unpaid temporary work experience may increase young people's engagement in education.

The median impact on school completion is in the ‘low positive’ range.

The component is also associated with higher levels of participation in degree-level study.

Data on training outcomes was not available or too limited to provide information on outcomes.

Improving employment and work quality

Unpaid temporary work experience could have a substantial positive impact on employment longer term, as well as increasing young people's income from work.

In the 12-24 months after the start of an intervention, unpaid temporary work experience is associated with a small negative impact on employment. However, at the 24 month point the impact on employment has over 90% chance of being is in the ‘high positive’ range.

Unpaid temporary work experience has a moderate positive impact on wages for young people who are in work. Data on other aspects of work quality was not available.

Impacts may be higher for older people in the 16-24 age group.

Lowers likelihood

Unpaid temporary work experience is likely to reduce young people's chance of not being in education, employment or training at 24 months after the start of an intervention.

What is unpaid temporary work experience?

Young people are offered short-term roles with employers such as unpaid placements or internships.

Typically unpaid temporary work experience

provides entry-level insight into a business, sector or role

may include a guaranteed interview at the end of the position

presents the opportunity to ‘practise’ the behavioural skills needed to sustain work

can be offered to young people who have other sources of financial support, such as benefits

Who is unpaid temporary work experience for?

Some unpaid temporary work experience interventions are designed to support young people who are long-term unemployed or at particular risk of marginalisation, such as disabled young people. These typically offer additional support to the young person and employer, for example through case worker support.

Internships are more likely to be offered to undergraduates and recent graduates. However, some opportunities for school leavers and college students can involve short term placements and opportunities to visit workplaces and/or shadow paid employees.

Who can offer unpaid temporary work experience?

Any UK organisation — business, charity, public-sector body or social enterprise — that meets legal requirements such as:

providing a safe working environment
complying with working-time rules for young people

How long is unpaid temporary work experience?

Placements can vary considerably between periods of one or two weeks to three months or longer. The majority are relatively short.

How is unpaid temporary work experience funded?

Funding may come from diverse sources or from a mixture of sources including:

government (local or central)
charities
employers seeking to enhance skills for potential trainees or employees.

What are the delivery settings?

Workplaces of participating employers

Benefits for young people

Unpaid temporary work experience can support individuals to:

learn about workplace behaviours and culture
try out the kinds or work and jobs they are interested in before applying or studying for work in a particular sector
move into formal or permanent paid employment with the participating employer, by developing skills, connections and showcasing potential

Benefits for employers

Unpaid temporary work experience can support employers to:

engage with young people before opportunities are available to offer them formal work, helping to build a talent pipeline
help develop work readiness among new recruits, which can strengthen recruit and retention

The cost rating for unpaid temporary work experience is moderatemoderate

Calculations are based on insights from available high-quality studies on the complexity of delivery requirements and estimated associated costs.

Outreach and recruitment activity

Tailored and varied with associated staffing, materials, scheduling and administrative costs. Delivery to young people with complex needs or vulnerabilities may require a more targeted approach to recruitment.

Delivery intensity

Most unpaid temporary work experience lasts a few weeks but can last three months or more

Delivery partners

Liaison needed between programme providers and employers, provision of wraparound support for young people to develop their workplace skills and work-readiness, supported by programme planning and management, requiring additional admin resource

Delivery expertise

Requires workplace supervisors and specialist employment advisors equipped with technical job-specific knowledge and skills. who provide job matching services and support at the start of the placement.

Wages, financial assistance or incentives

Wages for specialist staff, potential to subsidise young people's expenses such as travel costs, and provision for programme administration and management staff where appropriate.

Delivery settings

Typically delivered at existing workplace of participating employer

Outreach and recruitment activity	Tailored and varied with associated staffing, materials, scheduling and administrative costs. Delivery to young people with complex needs or vulnerabilities may require a more targeted approach to recruitment.
Delivery intensity	Most unpaid temporary work experience lasts a few weeks but can last three months or more
Delivery partners	Liaison needed between programme providers and employers, provision of wraparound support for young people to develop their workplace skills and work-readiness, supported by programme planning and management, requiring additional admin resource
Delivery expertise	Requires workplace supervisors and specialist employment advisors equipped with technical job-specific knowledge and skills. who provide job matching services and support at the start of the placement.
Wages, financial assistance or incentives	Wages for specialist staff, potential to subsidise young people's expenses such as travel costs, and provision for programme administration and management staff where appropriate.
Delivery settings	Typically delivered at existing workplace of participating employer

Considerations for decision makers

Based on existing evidence, we’ve identified some common features that support the commissioning, design and delivery of effective youth employment programmes:

Ensure outreach and awareness activities are effective and targeted to reach those most likely to benefit

Read more about Ensure outreach and awareness activities are effective and targeted to reach those most likely to benefit

Design, fund and deliver outreach and recruitment activities that raise young people’s awareness, with targeted initiatives to reach under-represented group who are most likely to benefit.

This might include:

Young people who have been out of work and/or learning for longer periods.
Young people without Level 2 qualifications.
Young people whose life experiences put them at higher risk of marginalisation in the labour market, for example those with experience of the care system and/or with SEN.

Discover more about risk factors associated with being NEET.

Also consider how best to identify and engage the most suitable partners and employers for a programme. Engagement should be timely and clear, in ways that raise awareness and facilitate recruitment, enrolment, and sustained engagement.

Effective programmes may use direct community outreach activities for engaging under-served groups, alongside up-to-date local and administrative data, working with public employment services, or advertising vacancies along with eligibility criteria.

Some programmes mirror the process of applying for a job by advertising vacancies, or getting employers to advertise vacancies, so that young people can apply for them.

Tailor and structure programmes well to support access and maintain engagement

Read more about Tailor and structure programmes well to support access and maintain engagement

Design, fund and deliver programmes that:

prepare young people for participation through orientation activities, information or guidance
offer work experiences that feel like ‘a proper job’ beyond shadowing or basic tasks to help young people build a range of skills, and gain confidence in the workplace
pay appropriately, with potential subsidies or financial assistance to further minimise barriers to engagement
share information about future opportunities within the organisation or sector where the experience takes place, and from relevant careers guidance
share information about relevant related training or further study with young people
offer an interview to young people who have completed a period of work experience, where appropriate and feasible
provide sufficient training, ongoing support, and opportunities for peer learning to existing staff who are involved in managing or supporting placements
listen and incorporate feedback from young people and employers to iterate and refine delivery

Take a joined-up, collaborative approach

Read more about Take a joined-up, collaborative approach

Design, fund and deliver programmes that foster collaboration effective partnerships between employers and other stakeholders

Strong partnerships between employers, public institutions, support providers and communities can help to build and sustain successful programmes, as can collaborations between different providers of the same programme.

Encourage systematic monitoring and evaluation to help build and strengthen the evidence base

Read more about Encourage systematic monitoring and evaluation to help build and strengthen the evidence base

Support providers and delivery organisations to accurately and systematically capture and communicate data and milestones and track programme outcomes. This may include structured and standardised tracking forms, or developing realistic programme-specific performance frameworks.

For funders and commissioners – ensure recorded data, reporting and assessment captures a full range of appropriate and relevant youth employment and related outcomes to help rich understanding to ensure rich picture of what programmes do.

Encouraging reporting commonly recognised metrics allows evaluation to be easily comparable and included in the growing evidence base.

About the evidence

What’s included in the analysis?

Read more about What’s included in the analysis?

Included studies	18
Location(s)	High-income countries
Outcome	Labour force status, earnings, employment duration, hours worked, and education & skills
Comparator	'Services as usual' / Business as usual

The Youth Employment Toolkit brings together evidence from robust studies in high-income countries that:

measured the intervention’s impact against what would have happened without it
defined unpaid temporary work experience as a component of a targeted intervention to support youth employment outcomes

Find details of individual studies, as well as other systematic reviews of youth employment evaluations, in the Youth Employment Evidence and Gap Map.

More information about included studies can be found in page 55-60 of the full CNMA report. The specific evidence profile for unpaid work experience can be found on page 201.

The evidence strength ratings for unpaid temporary work experience reflect the number of studies included in the meta-analysis. Studies were scored on reported design, sample size, approach to attrition, and definitions of interventions and outcome measures. More detail can be found in the technical guide.

Limitations

Implications for evaluators and commissioners

Read more about Implications for evaluators and commissioners

The research identified differences between the impacts of paid and unpaid work experience. This might reflect differences between the populations served, delivery contexts, or the combination of components provided alongside work experience.

Alternatively it might reflect factors associated with payment or non-payment, or with the slightly different average duration of programmes.

A better understanding of what drives these differences would help decision-makers to plan effective interventions for their context.

The current evidence can also be strengthened by taking a consistent approach to incorporating standardised metrics for education, employment and training outcomes as well as outcomes that indicate work quality.

Unpaid temporary work experience