bp announces partnership with The Prince’s Trust to provide retail employment for young people from disadvantaged backgrounds
- Up to 50 young people from disadvantaged backgrounds will benefit from work experience in bp’s UK retail sites over the next 12 months.
- Commitment to offer at least half of the participants a permanent contract, with 11 offered so far.
- Partnership attracts external talent to support bp’s store recruitment strategy, filling resource gaps and to help build our future resource pipeline.
bp and The Princes Trust
bp has entered into a partnership with The Prince’s Trust that will help up to 50 disadvantaged young people get into paid work across four programmes in the next year. A comprehensive ‘Get into Retail’ programme, designed by bp and The Prince’s Trust, will give participants valuable work experience, complemented by employability training.
Sonya Adams, VP mobility and convenience retail for bp in the UK commented:
"We believe in the transformative power of opportunity. Partnering with The Prince's Trust to launch 'Get into Retail' reflects our commitment to empowering disadvantaged young people, providing them with the skills and support to build meaningful futures, whilst fostering a diverse, inclusive retail business across our UK network. We are thrilled by the positive impact we've achieved so far and look forward to building on this momentum, creating even more opportunities in the future.”
The partnership kicked off in May 2023 with an initial cohort of seven young people, put forward by The Prince’s Trust, taking part in the ‘Get into Retail’ programme in the Milton Keynes area. The second cohort completed their work experience in November 2023 around south London. To date 11 of the 14 participants have secured permanent employment with bp.
Alex Fleming, Head of Business Development at The Prince's Trust commented:
“We’re delighted to continue our work with bp. Their vision for enhanced equity in the workplace resonates with our mission of supporting young people who are facing disadvantage and adversity, and we are thankful for their commitment to helping young people into employment with the Get into Retail programme. The Prince’s Trust has helped one million young people since we were founded in 1976 and our partnership with bp will play a vital role in continuing these efforts.”
The next two ‘Get into Retail’ programmes will run in North London in January and in Kent in March 2024. To learn more about The Prince's Trust and to sign up, please visit www.princes-trust.org.uk/contact-us.
Social mobility at bp
In 2022, bp launched the Social Mobility Framework for Action, to help break down barriers so all can thrive regardless of background.
bp believes that improving the representation, inclusion, retention, and advancement of employees from diverse social backgrounds will contribute to it becoming a more competitive company and even better place to work.
As part of the social mobility framework for action, bp has included an ambition to deliver over 500 annual work experience opportunities world wide by 2024. With a focus on social mobility outreach, we are aiming to create immersive, hands-on experiences, centred around building skills for the future, such as this partnership with The Prince’s Trust.
Further information:
bp press office London, bppress@bp.com, +44 7831 095541, +44 7919 217511
About bp
bp’s purpose is to reimagine energy for people and our planet. It has set out an ambition to be a net zero company by 2050, or sooner and help the world get to net zero, and a strategy for delivering on that ambition. For more information visit bp.com.
About The Prince’s Trust
The Prince’s Trust believes that every young person should have the chance to succeed, no matter what their background or the challenges they are facing. We help those from disadvantaged communities and those facing the greatest adversity by supporting them to build the confidence and skills to live, learn and earn.
The courses offered by The Trust help young people aged 11-30 to develop essential life skills, get ready for work and access job opportunities. We support them to find work because having a job or running a business can lead to a more stable, fulfilling life.
Since The Trust was founded by HM The King in 1976, when he was HRH The Prince of Wales, we have helped more than a million young people across the UK, and three in four of those we supported over the last five years have moved into work, education or training.
We are committed to enabling even more young people to create a better future for themselves. By helping young people today, the benefits for them, their communities and the wider economy will be felt for years to come.
Further information about The Prince’s Trust is available at princes-trust.org.uk or on 0800 842 842.