A food trailer stationed outside Southampton's St Mary's Stadium is offering paid work and vocational training to young people classified as NEET (not in education, employment or training), as part of a partnership between a local street-food business, the Big Issue and the club's charitable arm.

How the scheme works

Stuffed Gourmet Trailers, the company behind the van, received a £42,000 investment from the Big Issue to fit out the trailer and staff it with young people drawn from Saints Works, an employability programme run by the Saints Foundation for 18 and 19-year-olds. Participants earn a wage from day one and work towards a National Vocational Qualification while on the job.

The Saints Foundation says that 6.5% of Southampton's Year 12 and 13 cohort are currently classified as NEET or with an unknown destination after education. Nationally, the Office for National Statistics puts the figure at close to one million young people aged 16 to 24 across the United Kingdom.

The people involved

Jack Trebilcock, 18, said he had been forced to leave school early "due to personal circumstances" and found himself with no qualifications and no work experience. "Finding a job was forever going to be hard," he said. Working for Stuffed, he explained, had "helped me develop personal skills and things that I never would have got just being outside of school early." He added simply: "I haven't looked back."

Elle Leonard, 19, described a similar effect on her confidence. "My life has brightened up a lot, just having work to do, being in a great environment for my mental health," she said. "It's been lovely, I've had so much fun."

James Pounds, who owns Stuffed, said the company "accidentally" stumbled on the issue of youth unemployment after noticing that a number of their hires had dropped out of college or were struggling to find work. "We realised that we had hit upon something," he said, before approaching the Big Issue about scaling the idea up.

Plans to expand

Russell Blackman, managing director at the Big Issue, said the St Mary's trailer could directly benefit at least 40 young people, and described the setup as "the template for more to come." His pitch to other venues was straightforward: "We're not asking for special treatment, we're not asking for reduced rates, all we need is a little bit of help of where we can give these people work. The more sites we can be given, the more people we can help."

Pounds offered a small illustration of what the money can mean. One of the young employees, he said, had used his wages to take his mother on holiday for the first time. "That's life changing for young people," Pounds said.

Southampton's role

For Southampton, the arrangement costs the club nothing beyond the provision of a pitch for the trailer at St Mary's. The Saints Foundation supplies the participants through its established Saints Works programme. That the scheme is anchored at a Championship ground matters in practical terms: a busy matchday footfall of thousands gives the trainees a genuine commercial environment in which to learn, not a simulated one.

The Saints Foundation did not put a figure on how many young people have passed through Saints Works to date, though the Big Issue's target of 40 participants at this single site suggests the ambition is meaningful rather than token. Whether other Championship clubs with community foundations could replicate the model at their own grounds is, for the moment, an open question, but Blackman's framing of St Mary's as a "template" suggests the Big Issue is actively looking for takers.

Frequently asked

What is the Saints Foundation Saints Works programme?
Saints Works is an employability scheme run by Southampton FC's charitable arm, the Saints Foundation, targeting 18 and 19-year-olds in Southampton who are not in education, employment or training. Participants can be matched with paid work placements such as the Stuffed food trailer at St Mary's Stadium.
Who funded the food trailer at St Mary's Stadium?
The Big Issue invested £42,000 in the Stuffed Gourmet Trailers food van, which is based outside St Mary's Stadium and staffed by young people from the Saints Foundation's Saints Works programme.
Do the young people working on the food van get a qualification?
Yes. As well as earning a wage, participants work towards a National Vocational Qualification (NVQ) while employed on the trailer.