Safeguarding rules threaten Andy Burnham's work experience plans, companies and educators warn
- New draconian DBS check rules are scaring employers away from taking on student interns.
- Small businesses are ditching work experience programs to avoid the crushing admin and legal costs.
- Government ignores its own warnings as placement numbers hit a three-year low.
- Schools are paralyzed by the new liability, leaving students stuck in the classroom while the gap to the workplace widens.
Brief Summary
Andy Burnham’s ambitious plan to drag schoolchildren into the workforce is hitting a wall of bureaucratic incompetence. New government safeguarding rules, which mandate enhanced background checks for anyone supervising children, have sent employers running for the exits. Despite warnings that these requirements would create insurmountable barriers, the government pushed forward, leaving small businesses to foot the bill and schools to drown in a sea of new, confusing responsibilities.
Why This Matters
When the government decides to prioritize endless vetting over practical experience, the real losers are the teenagers who miss out on vital career exposure. If you are a parent or a business owner, you should expect a shrinking pool of available internships and a system where 'safety' is used as a convenient excuse for administrative paralysis. This move effectively kills the pipeline between education and industry, ensuring that a generation enters the workforce with even less real-world preparation than before, all while businesses are forced to choose between jumping through hoops or shutting their doors to students entirely.