What is it?
- The Kickstart Scheme provides funding to employers to create job placements for 16-24 year olds on Universal Credit.
- The government will cover;
- 100% of the National Minimum Wage (or the National Living Wage depending on the age of the participant) for 25 hours per week for a total of 6 months
- associated employer National Insurance contributions
- employer minimum automatic enrolment contributions
- Employers can spread the start date of the job placements up until the end of December 2021.
Is my company eligible?
Employers of all sizes can apply for funding, however, a Kickstart Scheme application must be for a minimum of 30 job placements. This is unlikely to work for an SME, therefore if an employer cannot provide this many job placements they can find a Kickstart gateway, such as a local authority, charity or trade body for help applying.
The job placements created with Kickstart Scheme funding must be new jobs.
The job placements must not:
- replace existing or planned vacancies
- cause existing employees, apprentices or contractors to lose work or reduce their working hours.
It is not clear on how many employers will take this up. You can access more detail here https://www.gov.uk/government/collections/kickstart-scheme
