Kickstart Scheme

The Government is creating 6 month placements for under 25s who are looking to start their careers but have been hit by the Corona virus. The Government will be fully funding these to make it worthwhile to business to provide them with the work experience they need.

We’ve agreed to help one of our members with their application so are opening up the offer to do the same for all. 

FAQs

The Kickstart Scheme provides funding to employers to create new 6-month job placements for young people who are currently on Universal Credit.

Any organisation, regardless of size, can apply for funding. Each application should include a plan on how you will help the participants to develop their skills and experience, including:

  • support to look for long-term work, including career advice and setting goals
  • support with CV and interview preparations
  • supporting the participant with basic skills, such as attendance, timekeeping and teamwork

Applications for less than 30 placements need to be done using a local representative or aggregator.

You get a fully funded, new member of staff for 6 months to help your business. Funding covers the cost of employment including

100% of the relevant National Minimum Wage for 25 hours a week

the associated employer National Insurance contributions

employer minimum automatic enrolment contributions

There will also be extra funding to build their experience and help them move into sustained employment after they have completed the scheme

Employers write their own job descriptions, interview and choose the employees as normal. The only difference is that all the candidates will come via the JobCentre. 

There is an application process to complete, followed by the interviews etc so the first placements are likely to be available from November.

They get to take their first step in to our sector under your guidance and you will help them to develop both their skills and experience. Specific support will include:

  • Support looking for work post placement
  • CV and interview preparation
  • Training to develop skills

You can provide support and training both in-house and using external organisations

It can cover any type of role but it shouldn’t require extensive training before starting the placement. This must be a new job and not replace existing employee or vacancy.

If you wish to pay above national minimum wage you are free to and can also increase the hours to full time. You cannot claim additional funding to cover this. 

Whether you opt to continue to employ the person or not once a job placement is created, it can be taken up by a second person as long as the first has completed their 6-month term.

If your organisation is unable to take on the minimum 30 job placements required per application you need to partner with other organisations to reach the minimum number.

We’ve been asked by one of our members if we’d take on the role of aggregator in order to assist them. As we have experience in both government funding applications and ongoing reporting we’ve agreed to help and are opening this up to all our members with the aim of reaching the required 30 roles.

If you’re interested in a placement as part of the Kickstart scheme, please let us know by filling out our ‘Interested in Kickstart’ form and we’ll be in touch.

Register your interest