
Kickstart Scheme
October 12, 2020 || By Zoe TannerZoe Tanner || Coronavirus Updates
As part of the Government’s Plan for Jobs, the Kickstart Scheme aims to provide 6-month work placements for 16-24 year olds who are unemployed and currently on Universal Credit.
Organisations of any size and based anywhere in the UK can apply for funding to create placements.
The placement you want to create must:
The placements you want to create must not:
As part of the scheme, employers will be expected to support their new recruits in their search for long term work including providing career advice and helping with CV writing, interview preparation and goal setting.
For each job placement that is created, the Government will cover:
The Government will also pay employers an additional £1500 per placement to help cover setup costs and training.
If you are applying on behalf of a group of employers (as a Gateway Company), you can also get £300 for each job placement to help with the administrative costs of bringing together other employers- more on this in a sec.
Note: Once a job placement is created, it can be taken up by a second person once the first successful applicant has completed their 6-month term.
If you plan to provide 30 or more placements, you can apply online here.
You will need to provide the following information so some prep is required before heading to the application portal.
Basics:
Additional Information (needed to show that the placements are entirely new jobs and are not going to replace existing or planned vacancies, or cause existing employees, apprentices or contractors to lose or reduce their employment):
You will also need to supply information re the support you will be able to provide for the new employees along the lines of:
If you want to provide less than 30 placements, you will need to apply via a Gateway Company…
Gateway companies are businesses that have signed up to help other businesses make use of the Kickstart Scheme.
They may be employers themselves, local authorities, trade bodies or registered charities and some will be open to helping applicants for all industries while some have specified niches.
You can find a suitable Gateway Company for your needs via the regularly updated list here.
Companies are listed by Geographical area with an outline of the sectors they are happy to support as well as phone numbers and email addresses displayed for you to contact them directly.
Note: You can contact more than one potential Gateway Company at a time so you can choose one that best suits your needs.
Once you have chosen a Gateway Company, they will guide you through the application process which will involve providing much the same detail as specified above for those applying directly.
Any Universal Credit recipients aged between 16 and 24 can apply for Kickstarter Scheme roles via their Work Coach and can find out more here.
It’s worth noting that extra funding has also been promised to help Kickstarter Scheme employees move into long term employment at the end of their 6-month placements.