“It gives you confidence”: Peterborough young people share their career journeys after graduating from Amazon supported internship

Two young people from Peterborough are sharing the story of how their skills and confidence have grown thanks to one of the UK’s leading supported internship programmes.

Umar and Joseph are supported interns at Amazon in Peterborough, starting their internship in late 2025 and graduating this summer.

Supported internships are structured work-based study programmes for young people aged 16 to 24 with Special Education Needs and Disabilities (SEND) who have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) or equivalent.

For young people with a learning disability and/or who are autistic, barriers to employment are particularly acute, with just 6% of adults with a learning disability in England currently in paid work, despite 86% wanting to do so1, according to data from local authorities.

The supported internship programme at Amazon was launched in 2021 in a bid to see more young people with SEND enter the workforce. It was expanded in 2023 through an ongoing partnership with national charity DFN Project Search. Since the launch of the programme, almost 300 young people have started a supported internship with Amazon, making the company the UK’s largest private sector provider of supported internships.

Supported internships at Amazon combine classroom education and practical work experience in a number of roles; all within an Amazon fulfilment centre, where items are stored, packed and shipped. More than 155 people who have completed a supported internship at Amazon have gone on to secure permanent roles at the company.

During the initial pilot of the Amazon supported internship programme in 2021, three people graduated from the scheme. Umar and Joseph are among 140 people with SEND who are graduating from a supported internship across 25 Amazon sites this year. They’ve shared what they’ve learned whilst working at Amazon to inspire others to take part in the programme.

Umar and Joseph joined Amazon’s supported internship programme at the company’s fulfilment centre in Peterborough last September, coming from Peterborough Regional College. The pair - who live locally - have now graduated from the programme.

Their paths to Amazon were quite different. Umar had spent five years at PRC before the programme, building towards work in a steady, methodical way. Joseph, by his own cheerful admission, was doing basically nothing beforehand. Though he adds, grinning, that his mum had something to say about that.

Neither of them had worked in a fulfilment centre before. Both say the same thing about what they found when they got there: a team that supports them, and a place where they have surprised themselves.

Working with the packing team has been the highlight for the interns on the fulfilment centre floor. Interns start with learning the ropes in the run-up to Christmas, then move across to packing in the New Year, by which point they have enough experience to appreciate what they are doing. For Umar in particular, packing has been about more than the task itself. “It gives you confidence,” he said. “It gives you skills.”

Communication has been a major thread running through both internships. For Umar, learning to greet colleagues, ask questions and engage with the people around him has been his single biggest takeaway. Joseph echoes this. “I’ve learned how to improve my communication skills with people I don’t know,” he said, and he has noticed the benefit in his personal life too. He has also become someone others turn to on the floor. “Sometimes when they’re stuck, I'll go and help them,” he said.

Ask either of them what they would tell themselves on day one, and the answers are simple and sincere. Umar’s advice: be excited, and trust that you’ll do a good job. Joseph’s: just get on with it - the same thing, he reflects, he wished he had told himself when he first started college. Both interns are set on continuing their careers with Amazon.

Joseph, however, has one eye on a longer-term dream as well. He has loved cars since he was young, and mechanics is somewhere on the horizon. His favourite, for any car fans reading this, is a Nissan Skyline R34 GTR.

Both interns have been offered jobs at Amazon. The graduation ceremony was attended by their family and Amazon colleagues.

Kirsty Matthews, CEO of DFN Project Search, said: “Umar and Joseph’s journeys are a brilliant reminder of what is possible when young people with a learning disability and/or autism are given a real chance to shine. Watching them grow in confidence and capability at Amazon is wonderful to see.

“We’re incredibly grateful to have host business partners like Amazon, who continue to open doors that might otherwise have been closed and demonstrating that when businesses make disability inclusion a priority, everyone benefits. These young people have so much to offer, and programmes like this give them the platform to showcase their talents and build meaningful careers.”

Nearly 300 young people have now been through the scheme, and Amazon recently announced plans to quadruple the programme, supporting an additional 1,000 young people with learning disabilities and autism into employment by 2030.

The commitment, announced at Amazon's UK Delivering the Future event in June, builds on the company's position as the UK's largest private sector provider of supported internships.

Annual pay for Amazon Operations roles starts from £29,744 and in some locations, £31,824. Employees are offered a comprehensive benefits package, including private medical insurance, life assurance, income protection and an employee discount as well as a company pension plan.

For employees reaching their one-year employment mark, Amazon offers the Career Choice programme, which pre-pays 100% of tuition for courses in high-demand fields. To promote a more affordable commuting option for employees, Amazon also offers a season ticket scheme to eligible staff.

Amazon has been named as a ‘Top Employer UK 2026’ by the Top Employer Institute, for the third year in a row, one of the world’s most prestigious certifications in the field of human resources management. This award recognises Amazon’s commitment to the development and well-being of its employees. In addition to the UK accolade, Amazon has also been certified as one of the Top Employers in Europe for a fourth consecutive year.

DFN Project SEARCH is a national charity serving young adults with a learning disability or are autistic, or both, to make a positive transition from education into permanent employment. DFN Project SEARCH offers an evidence-based supported internship programme that takes place entirely in the workplace and provides continuous support to young adults aged 16 – 24, with the goal of ensuring a transition to meaningful paid employment for every young adult.

To date, DFN Project SEARCH has supported over 3,600 young people through its programmes with, on average, just under 63% of graduates going on to permanent, paid jobs. DFN Project SEARCH has over 200 host businesses across healthcare, retail, hospitality, maintenance and logistics.

To apply for a supported internship programme with Amazon via DFN Project Search contact [email protected]ahead of the company’s September intake.