The Kickstart Scheme provides funding to employers to create job placements for 16 to 24 year olds.

The government has introduced a new Kickstart Scheme in Great Britain, a £2 billion fund to create hundreds of thousands of high quality work placements aimed at those aged 16 to 24 who are on Universal Credit and are deemed to be at risk of long term unemployment.

How the scheme works

You can use the Kickstart Scheme to create new 6-month job placements for young people. The job placements should support the participants to develop the skills and experience they need to find work after completing the scheme. Kickstart is not an apprenticeship, but participants may move on to an apprenticeship at any time during, or after their job placement.

Funding is available for 100% of the relevant National Minimum Wage for 25 hours a week, plus associated employer National Insurance contributions and employer minimum automatic enrolment contributions. There is also £1,500 per job placement available for setup costs, support and training.

If you’re creating more than 30 job placements START YOUR APPLICATION HERE

If your organisation is creating more than 30 job placements as part of the Kickstart Scheme, you can submit your application directly to GOV.UK 

If you’re creating fewer than 30 job placements

If your organisation is creating fewer than 30 job placements, you cannot apply directly. You must partner with other organisations in order to create a minimum of 30 job placements before applying.

If you are interested in creating a job placement(s)

Log on to kickstartwestkent.co.uk

West Kent Gateway – The West Kent Partnership based at Sevenoaks District Council is helping to support local businesses to access the Government’s Kickstart scheme.