With applications closed and the end in sight for the Kickstart scheme, I’ve decided to give a brief history of the scheme and my experiences with it. I doubt it will take much effort to remember 2020, the pandemic, the lockdown and the recession, all of which gave rise to the Kickstart scheme.

8th of July 2020: 

During their Summer Economic Update, the Chancellor of the Exchequer announced a new £2 billion job scheme for young people, who were one of the groups most affected by unemployment and the economic situation that began back then. Some of you may remember the details, a 6-month work placement at a company and the minimum wage for 25 hours a week paid for by the government. It was to start later in 2020 alongside a doubling in work coaches and new apprenticeship incentives, all of which formed part of the plan to avoid a deep recession.

2nd of September 2020: 

The Kickstart scheme opened its doors to people aged 18-24, offering a 6-month placement at a company that applied to the scheme. Or at least it did in theory. In reality, the gates had opened for businesses to sign up to the scheme, followed by an approval process before they could start recruiting from the pool of candidates. I should probably mention at this point that the pool of candidates consisted solely of individuals that were currently receiving universal credit and who had received approval from their work coach to apply for the position.

A concern that was evidently on the government’s mind was that a business could use the kickstart scheme to replace one of their existing employees with one paid for by the Kickstart Scheme. Confirmation that the role will be created solely for the Kickstart scheme was required and, whether intentional or not, it can be said that limiting the pool of applicants as they did helped severely limit the situations where this could be abused.

Approval times varied throughout the scheme’s lifespan, ranging from 2 days and up to 4 weeks depending on the demand, but applications commonly were accepted on the first try. Finding eligible candidates, however, was far more difficult. The DWP would post the position in the jobcentre, on the ‘Find A Job’ website and have work coaches talk to eligible candidates. The number of applicants remained low and any candidates from other sources had to be vetted for eligibility, a process with a very high rate of attrition. When an application was rejected there was no information as to the reason why and many resubmissions were accepted using the exact same details, suggesting a human element.

28th of June 2021:

My experience with the Kickstart scheme began when I went for an interview with my current employer, who was hosting an open interview for their Kickstart position. Being the only person there, I felt my chances were good and unsurprisingly, considering the last sentence, I got the position. Now involved in recruitment, I began helping businesses apply to the Kickstart scheme and put out job adverts for their roles. Skills and personal development came in the form of a weekly meeting of a group of Kickstarters every Tuesday, featuring guest speakers, behaviour profiling and employability skills training. Most, but not all, members of the group completed their 6-month placement and once you started a Kickstart placement you could not do another, which resulted in the loss of some good candidates for roles we advertised.

4th of October 2021:

An extension to the Kickstart scheme is announced. The new final date for applications is now the 17th of December. Without this extension, it’s highly unlikely that the Kickstart scheme would have been anywhere close to its original target of helping 250,000 young people, as you’re about to see.

16 of November 2021:

The DWP announce that “Over 100,000 young careers boosted by Kickstart Scheme”, that is to say, 100,000 young people started Kickstart positions. With just over one month until December the 17th, the deadline for scheme applications, there was plenty of time for that number to increase, as even once applications were closed, recruiting for already existing roles and approvals would continue.

17th of December 2021: 

End of submissions for the Kickstart scheme. I remember there was some activity in the final week as businesses rushed to get their applications in before the deadline. Except for Friday the 27th itself, which was eerily quiet, as all businesses had made sure to submit by Thursday at the latest. At this point, any rejection would be final as there was no time for resubmission. Any application approved had until the 31st of March 2022 to start a candidate in their new position before it was too late.

28th of December 2021:

My contract ended and I was taken on for another 6 months outside of the Kickstart scheme. Not everyone was so lucky. For all on fixed term contracts, there is the awkward moment as the end date draws near of having to approach the topic with their boss on whether their employment will continue. For some, it was clear that they would not be taken on long term and that it was time to begin searching for a new position. 

The aim of Kickstart, as per the name, was to give young people the experience needed to begin their careers. With relevant experience you can find a job, however, it’s not clear how many people were taken on after their Kickstart placements or immediately found work. Finding data for the scheme is difficult and anything outside of job numbers is incredibly scarce. However, those on universal credit are required to keep up to date employment data, so the DWP will know, even if they don’t share it openly. Anecdotally, the majority of Kickstarters I knew of ended up in work soon enough after leaving, now having experience in their chosen field to lean on.

31st of January 2022:

With all applications reviewed, over 305,000 jobs have been approved for funding, 235,000 jobs have been advertised and 130,000 jobs have been started. At this point, it’s highly unlikely that the jobs will all be filled or that the original target of 250,000 jobs created will be reached.

31st of March 2022:

Any company that had not started a candidate today were too late to take advantage of the Kickstart scheme and those successful had until before midnight on the 30th of April 2022 to inform the DWP that the candidate had started. Candidates starting today would finish this September, marking the final end of the Kickstart scheme. 

This effectively marks the end of the Kickstart scheme for everyone other than the employees and businesses who were some of the last to find a placement. For the most part at least. The government will continue to review the scheme beyond its conclusion to create further reports, recommendations and plants. For example, a review by the Public Accounts Committee requested that the DWP review its implementation of the scheme and how a “successor” scheme could be better rolled out based on the “administrative processes” and “relationships” of the Kickstart scheme. So it’s not unreasonable that a similar scheme would be rolled out under similar circumstances in the future, but let’s hope that time doesn’t come.

If you do want to know what the Public Accounts Committee have to say about the creation of a recession plan, here’s a link to the report (page number 20):

https://committees.parliament.uk/publications/22090/documents/163826/default/

Although the kickstart scheme has come to an end, there are still lots of young people out there, particularly those finishing their education this summer, looking to get the break they need. With recruitment being particularly challenging right now, do consider taking on someone with the right attitude who can be trained. If you would like support with this, we would love to assist you. To arrange a time just contact us at hello@ismepeople.co.uk