Specsavers backs call for government action on youth unemployment

Specsavers backs call for government action on youth unemployment

Specsavers has joined more than 80 retail leaders in calling for government action to tackle youth unemployment.

Carina Hummel, UK managing director for optics at Specsavers, is among signatories to a joint letter to the Prime Minister, Sir Keir Starmer coordinated by the British Retail Consortium. The business leaders say they share his ambition to reduce youth unemployment and expand opportunity.

But to do that, the letter urges him to cut the cost of employing young people alongside government employment and skills reforms supporting jobs rather than discourage them. In addition, the letter calls for a joint government-retail taskforce to simplify and enhance support for young employment regionally and nationally.

‘At Specsavers, we’ve seen firsthand how retail and healthcare businesses like ours can be a genuine launchpad for young people – not just a first job, but the start of a genuine career,’ says Ms Hummel

The company offers early career opportunities for than 1,200 graduates a year, including around 700 pre-registration trainees who join Specsavers as graduate optometrists. Specsavers also has around 500 to 600 apprenticeships a year across both clinical and support roles – with high retention rates.

‘Around 90% of those apprentices go on to permanent roles with us,’ says Ms Hummel. This isn’t about filling vacancies; it’s about developing the next generation of talent to help strengthen our ability to deliver high-quality community eye and hearing care to our patients for years to come.’

Specsavers has also expanded its audiology career offer, launching an 18-month graduate programme for newly qualified audiologists and hearing aid dispensers within its hearing care practices.

But Ms Hummel stresses that government action is also needed to ensure young people have job opportunities. ‘Ambition alone won’t solve the entry-level jobs crisis. Employers like us need government to create the conditions that allow us to reach young people and build the pipeline of talent that our businesses, and our patients, depend on,’ she says.