The UK Government has introduced a new Kickstart Scheme in Great Britain, a £2 billion fund to create hundreds of thousands of high quality 6-month work placements aimed at those aged 16-24 who are on Universal Credit and are deemed to be at risk of long term unemployment.
The South and Mid Wales Chambers of Commerce is now acting as a local intermediary for the Kickstart scheme.
From the beginning of November, you will be able to offer out-of-work young people six-month work placements for at least 25 hours a week. This UK Government scheme offers to pay you, as employers, 100% of the age-relevant National Minimum Wage, NI and pension contributions for each placement for 25 hours per week for 6 months.
The scheme is your chance to offer a real hand-up to someone aged 16-24 who is claiming Universal Credit, adding to your capacity whilst investing in someone’s future.
You will also receive £1500 for each placement to help them gain work experience, skills and confidence. How you use this is up to you, whether this is used for IT equipment, PPE, uniforms or training (provided by you or by a range of partners we can connect you to).
Any business, regardless of size, can apply for this funding and to take part you must ensure:
• This is a new role, not a replacement for a redundancy or to fill an existing vacancy
• This won’t lead to a redundancy for a current employee.
The job placements must:
• be a minimum of 25 hours per week, for 6 months
• pay at least the National Minimum Wage or the National Living Wage for the employee’s age group
• only require basic training
For each job placement you must help the young person become more employable. This could include:
• looking for long-term work, including career advice and setting goals
• support with curriculum vitae (CV) and interview preparations
• developing their skills in the workplace.
The scheme is for 30 placements at a time, and because most businesses won’t be able to take on the full 30, the Chamber is acting as a gateway to collect individual business needs and batch them to give all employers the chance to participate.
What do you need to do?
Simply email us at info@southwaleschamber.co.uk and we will send you the application form to get the ball rolling and start to change lives.
For those who would like to apply for support for 30 or more job placements they have available, you can apply directly. Please check here for more details.
