As part of my commitment to young people's employment opportunities in Fareham, I am encouraging both employers and young individuals to get involved in the Kickstart Scheme. The scheme takes a holistic and tailored approach; matching employers and individuals based on skill sets to ensure optimum compatibility.
The Kickstart Scheme helps young people at risk of long term unemployment get into the job market by providing government funding for employers to create six-month jobs.
Employers of all sizes and from all sectors can be funded to offer new roles. Further funding is available so employers can support young people to develop their skills and to help them move into sustained employment. If an employer can only take on a small number of people, they can still access the scheme through a Kickstart gateway.
Funding will cover for each job:
- Salary for 25 hours a week paid at relevant NMW rate
- associated employer National Insurance contribution
- employer minimum automatic enrolment pension contribution
- £1500 for job training and support for work search preparation
I'm a Local Employer How do I Get Involved?
You need to have a role that is specially created and additional to your existing organisation. You will need to tell your local DWP Kickstart team how you will support the young person and help them prepare for future work.
If your bid for jobs is approved, your jobs will be advertised within the DWP network and Job Centre Plus Work Coaches will try to match young people eligible for Kickstart roles to your organisation. DWP will refer people to you for interview.
While you may want to advertise the role directly, funding will only be provided for job recruits referred to the employer by DWP.
If the organisation is planning to offer more than 30 placements over the lifetime of the scheme (with last jobs starting in December 2021), it can submit an application directly online. Information required includes:
- the Companies House reference number or Charity Commission number
- the organisation address and contact details
- details of the roles and their location
Employers will need to provide supporting information about how the roles are new jobs and how they will develop employability skills of young people.
As from 3rd February 2021 an employer with less than 30 vacancies is eligible to apply for the scheme.
For employer tips on how to make a successful application please see: https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/kickstart-scheme-employer-resources/tips-for-making-a-successful-kickstart-scheme-application
Promotional materials for employers can be found here: Promotional Materials (link is external)
I'm a Young Person in Fareham How Do I Get Involved?
To qualify young people have to be between the age of 16 – 24 and in receipt of Universal Credit and ask their Work Coach in the Jobcentre to refer them to the employer who is advertising the vacancy.
Contact the DWHI (Dorset Wiltshire Hampshire & Isle of Wight) email address: dwhi.kickstart@dwp.gov.uk
Link to the Scheme: https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/kickstart-scheme
