Why Kickstart scheme has failed to launch

Six months on from the launch of the Kickstart employment scheme, just 4,000 young people have been matched with a job or training opportunity, prompting some to question whether major reforms are needed to the £2bn government initiative.

Launched in September 2020 to address the economic impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, Kickstart provides fully-funded jobs for 16- to 24-year-olds on Universal Credit who are at risk of long-term unemployment. It pays 100 per cent of the national minimum wage, employer national insurance and pension contributions for 25 hours a week for a total of six months. It is hoped this will encourage employers to create roles that help young people gain the skills and confidence needed to move into a permanent position when the placement ends.

Rise in Neet figures

The government has budgeted for 300,000 placements to be created, but by the end of February, work and pensions minister Mims Davies confirmed that 150,000 positions had been approved for the scheme, with 30,000 open for applications. However, just 4,000 16- to 24-year-olds had successfully found placements.

It comes as latest figures from the Office for National Statistics shows the number of young people not in education, employment or training (Neet) rose by 5.1 per cent, the highest quarterly figure in a decade to nearly 800,000 by December 2020.

Labour’s shadow minister for young people Cat Smith backs the Kickstart scheme but says the progress is too slow.

“With youth unemployment continuing to rise we need urgent action,” she says.

“Delays, confusion and last-minute changes have meant this scheme has sadly been more of a false start than a kickstart.

“The government must rapidly expand the number of opportunities available and get on with delivering the Opportunity Guarantee young people have been promised.”

The Opportunity Guarantee is a pledge by the government for every young person to have the chance of an apprenticeship or in-work placement. Labour says its “Jobs Promise” would build on this by taking unspent funding from the apprenticeship levy to subsidise the creation of 85,000 apprenticeships for young people.

In an effort to boost the impact of Kickstart, the Chancellor recently removed restrictions requiring employers to create a minimum of 30 vacancies for them to apply directly instead of through a “gateway” organisation such as industry bodies, local authorities or charities.

The move was welcomed by youth organisations, but a new report by the National Youth Agency (NYA) Outside, Looking Inhighlights the scale of the challenge facing the scheme.

“An additional 1,000 opportunities need to be created every day in order to return Neet levels to pre-pandemic levels by October 2021 and avoid a 50 per cent rise in Neet young people,” the report states.

“The number of Neet young people…could rise to above one million. This does not reflect the true nature of the youth labour market, excluding many more in precarious and part-time work. There are worrying trends that young people are becoming unemployed and are unable to get out of it quickly.”

Many young people in the most disadvantaged communities tend to get their first experience of work in sectors still badly affected by the pandemic such as retail, leisure and hospitality. This may not change any time soon, warns the NYA. However, it says one option could be for youth organisations to offer Kickstart placements, with young people working towards youth work qualifications.

Placement creation

Some youth organisations have already created placements through the scheme. The Scouts Association is to offer 66 roles providing extra support to recruit new volunteers (see case study). Meanwhile, social business Catch22 has created 140 placements with a range of national and regional employers through its Kickstart Community programme. Catch22 will provide support to the employer and employee with the focus on the young person gaining the skills to enable them to move into another meaningful job at the end of the six months.

Catch22’s chief development officer, Mat Ilic explains the focus of the scheme should be on getting young people into placements and that their experience is a good one.

“What does success look like here? Is it to create opportunities for the long-term? That is what we should be prioritising,” he adds.

Ilic says the slow progress so far towards this goal can be explained by the civil service and gateway organisations building up capacity and the now-removed restrictions on the number of placements gateway organisations needed to create. Another restriction Ilic would like to see addressed is the removal of the requirement that all placements are advertised through a Jobcentre Plus. “We [Catch22] can do a lot of that triage,” he adds.

In light of these issues and the fact the country has been under lockdown restrictions for much of the past six months, level of demand for Kickstart placements has been “good”, says Ilic. “People have taken a bet on young people despite the conditions.”

Transferrable skills

What will define the success of the programme is the quality of the experience and transferability of the skills they learn – which Ilic defines as “stickiness”.

“The best Kickstart placements will offer a holistic, well-rounded experience that delivers demonstrable skills with one eye on future work,” he says.

Ilic and others – including the Youth Employment Group, which includes leaders from charities the Princes Trust, Impetus and Youth Futures Foundation – believe Kickstart is likely to be extended beyond the end of the year when it is due to close.

In a statement the group said: “The latest numbers of young people on Kickstart show that many employers have had no choice but to delay their placements given the continuing disruption of lockdowns. Logistically, it will be very challenging for businesses to meet the intended number of placements in such a reduced period. Extending Kickstart beyond December will give all employers engaged in the scheme the time they need to fulfil their plans and offer thousands more young people the opportunity of employment.”

CASE STUDY
Scouts use Kickstart to find recruiters

The Scout Association has secured 66 work placements through the scheme to provide extra support to Scout volunteers.

The future of more than 500 Scout groups is uncertain as a result of the impact of the pandemic and the young people undertaking the placements will focus on recruiting new volunteers for these groups.

Scouts says it has a strong record in helping young people develop employment skills.

Programme lead John McAtominey, said: “We are really excited to have this opportunity not only to directly help our movement recover from the impact of Covid-19, but also to invest in young people, to help them gain the skills and experience they need to join the workforce.”

Many of the Scout groups that will receive support are based in communities disproportionately affected by Covid-19, particularly urban and inner-city areas. In these locations Scouting offers a genuine lifeline providing opportunities and experiences young people wouldn’t otherwise have, the organisation says.