The KickStart scheme

KickStart is a Government scheme to help employers offer a young person a life-changing job opportunity through paid jobs for 16–24 year-olds.

The scheme will:

• cover salaries at the national minimum wage for 25 hours per week for six months
• provide an additional £1,500 per placement to help wrap around support costs for the placement.

All jobs must be new. They must not replace existing furloughed staff or replace roles which have been subject to redundancy.

The Kickstart placement guide details all the things that you should think about as an employer creating your kickstart placement. Read the Kickstart placement guide on the London Councils website.

Read more about the Kickstart scheme on the Government’s website.

How we are helping

We want to help small to medium sized employers (SMEs) who want to get involved in the Kickstart Scheme but have less than 30 job vacancies.

Employers who are able to offer 30 or more placements can submit a direct bid for Kickstart funding. SMEs and employers taking less than 30 placements are required to pool their applications together into one bid, managed by an intermediary. Find out how to submit a direct bid for Kickstart funding on the Government's website.

We have asked to become an intermediary and expect our role to be confirmed very soon. This will give SMEs the opportunity to pool their vacancies with other local employers to achieve the 30 job vacancies required.

We know that many small organisations don’t have the resources to help a young person build their skills and progress into further employment. So we will work with employers to support them by, for example, helping them shape their training support, provide advice on how to offer the best quality experience for a young person and giving them access to our emerging “youth offer” package.

Tell us you’re interested

If you are interested in applying for the KickStart scheme with us as an intermediary, let us know by completing the survey below.

Your business can be in the private, public or voluntary sector.

Becoming an intermediary

If you intend to act as an intermediary we would also like to hear from you to see how we can work together to maximise the offer and access to employment and skills support for our community. Please fill out the expression of interest survey and will be in contact.

Advice guide

The advice guide below highlights the main terms and conditions you need to be aware of as an employer. Please read it so you are clear on what we need to have your placement approved by the DWP.

Questions

If you have any questions email economyandpartnerships@lewisham.gov.uk.