A St Albans high street store is joining forces with a youth charity to offer eight work places for its new youth employability scheme, Make your Mark.

Marks and Spencer is now working with The Prince’s Trust to lead Make Your Mark, an on-the-job training and mentoring programme designed to address the skills and experience gap that prevents unemployed young people, aged between 16 and 24, from finding work.

Lisa Donini, store manager at the St Peter’s Street store, said: "There are hundreds of thousands of young people across the UK struggling to find work and we’re extremely proud to be helping to support some of those through the Make Your Mark programme.

"We hope to make a real and lasting impact on the lives of the young people coming through the programme at Marks and Spencer St Albans."

Youth unemployment has recently reached record levels, with more than one in five 16 to 24-year-olds in the labour force struggling to find jobs.

Since 2004 Make Your Mark has enabled over 1,100 young people to complete placements in stores and offices across the country, with 50 per cent gaining employment with Marks and Spencer or another programme within three months..

For more information about the next programme in St Albans contact 0800 842 842 or visit www.princes-trust.org.uk/makeyourmark.