OCS pledges support to help more young people into work
OCS has committed to the Department for Work and Pensions’ (DWP) Youth Guarantee, pledging support for young people through work experience placements, Sector-Based Work Academies, the Youth Jobs Grant and the Jobs Guarantee.
In 2025, OCS hired 3,500 colleagues aged 18 to 24, accounting for one in five of its total UK hires. Of those, 582 identified as NEET (not in education, employment or training) before joining the company. OCS is committing to build on this track record as the Youth Guarantee develops.
More than one million 16 to 24-year-olds in the UK are currently NEET, the highest level in over 12 years, according to the Milburn Review commissioned by government. Six in ten have never held a job, up from four in ten in 2005, and around 1.6 million entry-level and lower-skilled roles have been lost from the economy over the past two decades.
Facilities management offers a genuine route into long-term careers rather than a short-term job. Cleaning operatives can progress to team leader and contract manager roles, security colleagues build careers in operations management, and engineers who start on building systems move into specialist and technical positions. OCS currently has more than 1,000 colleagues in live apprenticeships. OCS is also working with a number of customers to extend these employment routes to young people on their sites.
Sarah Williams, Chief People Officer UK & Ireland, OCS: “Facilities management gives young people a genuine route into long-term careers, not just a first job. Young people don’t need to arrive work ready. They need an employer who takes the time to build that with them. We already see that in our own workforce, where one in five of the people we hired last year were aged 18 to 24. That’s the kind of pathway the Youth Guarantee can open up more widely, and the young people we’re hiring today will be leading this industry in years to come.”
The Youth Guarantee runs over the next three years, and OCS will continue to work with DWP, colleges and customers to widen access to careers in facilities management as the programme develops.