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Tips for making a successful Kickstart Scheme application

Updated 5 November 2021

This promotional material was withdrawn on 22 November 2022

New applications to the Kickstart Scheme have closed.

Applies to England, Scotland and Wales

What is it?

The Kickstart Scheme is a £2 billion scheme to create thousands of high-quality 6-month job placements for 16 to 24 year olds.

The Kickstart Scheme is part of the plan for jobs and supports young people to develop new skills that will help them move into sustained employment after they have completed their Kickstart Scheme job placement.

The Kickstart Scheme provides organisations of all sizes, across the private, public and voluntary sectors with the opportunity to access a large pool of young people with potential.

On confirmation of the job start, the employer will be paid £1,500 per job placement to support overhead costs i.e. payroll, induction, leadership etc.

The funding available for each job will cover the relevant National Minimum Wage rate for 25 hours a week, plus the associated employer National Insurance contributions, and employer minimum automatic enrolment contributions.

Tips for making a successful Kickstart Scheme application

Is the Kickstart Scheme suitable for my organisation?

The Kickstart Scheme job placements are funded using a grant agreement. There are rules around who grants can be paid to.

Checks must be made to show your organisation is established, reputable and financially solvent.

You are more likely to be approved if you:

• have existed for a while
• regularly and recently submitted accounts
• have a credit score which is a low risk category
• have a low probability of imminent business failure
• have enough liquid assets to pay your debts
• do not have any recent county court judgments (CCJs)

These factors are taken into consideration when assessing your Kickstart Scheme application. Failing on one or more of these does not mean you will not be approved.

Tip 1

Show that your organisation is able to provide a 6-month Kickstart Scheme job placement and that your organisation is established and financially stable.

You can demonstrate this in a number of ways.

Tip 2

Your Kickstart Scheme job placement must give a meaningful experience of work.

This means that the work should be meaningful, with clear duties, responsibilities and goals.

For example:

An office administration role, working as a member of a team with the opportunity to contribute to the wider office’s work and learning how to use a new IT programme, would be considered meaningful.

In contrast, a role working alone, conducting repetitive manual tasks for the majority of their working day, without the chance to learn new skills would not be considered meaningful.

Tip 3

All Kickstart Scheme job placements should be additional jobs.

Kickstart Scheme job placements should not replace roles that already exist, or that you were intending to create without the Kickstart Scheme.

This means that you cannot use the Kickstart Scheme to replace a person in an existing job, or to fill a vacancy that already existed.

Tip 4

Kickstart Scheme job placements should increase future chances of work

You must show that you intend to support the young person on their Kickstart Scheme job placement, so that they increase their chances of finding work once their 6-month job placement has ended.

A Kickstart Scheme job placement should give the young person real workplace skills that will make a difference to their prospects of finding work in the future.

This can include training, the opportunity to try new tasks and build new skills, or helping them to improve their existing skills.

In selecting Kickstart Scheme Grant Recipients, government will carry out checks to ensure all of these criteria are met.

You can apply to create a Kickstart Scheme job placement.