A three-week AI bootcamp in Preston is giving young people a chance to build practical technology skills while they consider their next step into work. The UK government pilot is open to 70 people aged 16 to 24 who are not in employment or education, or who face the risk of becoming so.
The course is being held at Vault, a community hub in Preston, as part of a trial in the north-west of the UK. Its focus is not only on using AI, but on understanding how the technology works, how businesses use it and how to apply it responsibly.
Learning AI with a job in mind
Participants learn to build AI tools and explore the ways organizations can bring the technology into their work. The programme also points towards two apprenticeship routes: one for aspiring content creators who want to become AI marketing specialists, and another for people who want to join IT helpdesks that need AI expertise.
If a trainee secures an apprenticeship, they will join an organization with an AI-focused role to fill. That link between training and a specific job is central to the scheme, giving participants a clearer idea of where their new skills might lead.
Remy Simms, 17, is interested in applying for the content creator apprenticeship. He says the Preston course has changed his view of AI and helped him understand how it works.
“It shows that you can work with AI and you don’t have to work against it,” Simms says.
Khudeija Rafique, an 18-year-old attending the course, also sees AI as a useful part of her future working life. “It would be really helpful with whatever job I would like to go into,” she says.
Lauren Monks, an executive at IN4 Group, describes the wider purpose of the training in practical terms: “This is an opportunity to bridge a gap, to improve productivity and bring AI into organisations.”
A response to the NEET crisis
The pilot comes as nearly a million young people are NEET in the UK, meaning they are not in employment or education. Just over one in 10 people in the 16-24 age group are NEET.
Alan Milburn, a former Labour cabinet minister, has warned that the country is “at risk of a lost generation” without government action on the NEET crisis. The Preston bootcamp is one attempt to respond by giving young people skills tied to real workplace needs.
The course is limited to 70 participants and lasts three weeks, so it cannot reach everyone facing the same problem. Its role is to test whether focused AI training can help young people move towards apprenticeships and jobs with organizations that need those skills.
The programme also reflects a change in how entry-level work may develop. AI knowledge is being built into marketing and IT support roles, rather than treated as a separate subject with no clear connection to employment. For trainees, that can make the technology feel less distant and more useful.
Retailers set a larger employment target
A separate initiative aims to create 100,000 jobs for young people who are not in employment or education by the next national election in 2029. The target covers the next three years and comes from UK retailers seeking to expand opportunities for this group.
The British Retail Consortium and the Department for Work and Pensions are launching a voluntary work placement programme for young people aged 18 to 24. The effort links retail employers with a wider plan to help young people gain workplace experience and move into jobs.
JD Sports is a retailer partner offering apprenticeships, while Heinz, a food company, and Agilysys, an IT firm, are also named as partners. Together with the Preston bootcamp, the retail programme shows two routes being tested: direct AI training for young people and a larger supply of placements and jobs.
The two initiatives serve different age ranges and use different methods, but they address the same pressure. Young people need a route from being outside work or education into roles where employers have a place for them.
For the 70 people at Vault, that route begins with three weeks of learning how to build and use AI tools responsibly. For the wider retail effort, the goal is 100,000 jobs over the next three years. Both plans now face the same test: whether training and placements can turn stated opportunities into lasting work.
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