Work experience

The Youth Futures Foundation is an organisation focused on supporting young people to access employment opportunities. They have commissioned Ipsos, a research organisation, to conduct a research trial with Severn Trent on their work experience programme.

The aim of the research trial is to understand the potential impacts of a 4-day work experience placement. The findings will help improve work experience programmes for young people across the country.

The overall research will take place over 2 years. The February 2026 work experience placement will serve as a ‘test run’ and Ipsos will use the findings to plan the rest of the trial, beginning with placements in May 2026 through to placements in July 2027. The data collected during this first placement, and all work experience placements as part of the trial, will be used for research purposes only.

Ipsos, an independent research company, has been commissioned by the Youth Futures Foundation in partnership with Severn Trent to conduct this research trial. Ipsos has extensive experience conducting research with young people and evaluating employment programmes. You can find out more about Ipsos UK here: https://www.ipsos.com/en-uk.

Your work experience will be the focus of the placement. The research trial is a way to learn more about what works best for young people.

Taking part in the research trial involves:

1. Completing the application: The details in the application will be used in the research trial. This includes information about you such as name, age, school year and postcode area. The application form will also ask for your contact details so Severn Trent can inform you of the outcome of your application and Ipsos can invite you to take part in research activities such as surveys and interviews. Finally, if you are under 16 years old, the application asks for your parent/caregiver contact details so that Severn Trent or Ipsos can follow-up with your parent or guardian to check they are also happy for you to take part in the work experience and the research trial.
2. Random allocation to the work experience placement: To fairly test whether the work experience has an impact, once you have applied you will be chosen at random to do the work experience placement, or be part of a comparison group. The comparison group will still be invited to complete research activities but won’t take part in the work experience placement this time.
3. Be invited to take part in surveys and interviews: You will be invited to complete up to three short surveys—before, during, and after the work experience time frame using the contact details in your application These will ask about your skills, confidence, and career ambitions. You may also be invited to complete a 45-minute interview to tell us more about your experience. You do not have to take part in these activities if you do not want to.
4. The first group of participants in February 2026 will be part of a special 'test run'. This will help us to design the research trial so that the findings are robust and meaningful. This may help the process run smoothly for future groups.

Participation in the work experience placement and the research trial is voluntary. During the application, you will be asked if you are happy to consent to participate in the research trial and to upload your parent or caregiver’s if you are below 16.

While the research trial is running, Severn Trent will only be able to accept applications if you (and your parents/caregivers if you are under 16 years old) provide your consent to participate in the research. This is only while the research trial is running.

While participation in the overall research trial is required for the work experience placement application to be accepted, you can still choose not to take part in surveys and interviews and can refuse to answer any questions you do not feel comfortable answering. This will not affect your placement or relationship with Severn Trent in any way. You have the right to withdraw your consent at any time.

To withdraw consent, please contact us at UK-WorkExperienceResearch-Mailbox@ipsos.com

The details in the application form will be collected by Severn Trent and shared securely with Ipsos to conduct the research study. Ipsos will use this information for research purposes only. This includes checking with your parents that they have consented for to you take part, inviting you to participate in research activities (such as surveys and interviews), and to understand more about you.

Ipsos will then analyse and report on the findings from the research. The findings will be used by the Youth Futures Foundation and Severn Trent to better understand the work experience programme. They will also be published online to help other organisations learn from the research and improve work experience programmes. Everything you say will be reported anonymously and confidentially which no one will be able to identify you in any published reports.

In exceptional circumstances, we may need to break confidentiality if you tell us something that suggests you or someone else is at risk of serious harm. You can read more about your data protection rights in the Privacy Notice.

To understand the real long-term difference the work experience makes, we are also asking for your permission to link your data to secure government databases including Longitudinal Education Outcomes (LEO), HMRC and other administrative government datasets.

This will allow researchers to see, in an anonymised way, the education and employment outcomes of people over many years. This data linkage would be done securely, and no individual will ever be identified in any published research reports.

If you are happy to take part, please tick the consent boxes in the application form and submit your application.