Giving a voice to the employment support sector

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Kickstart Community Forum

This community forum brings together employers, gateways, change makers, commissioners and others interested in getting Kickstart right for young people. If you would like to contribute to this community page, please email the ERSA team at events@ersa.org.uk.

Employment Support Sector: Rising to the youth employment challenge
Monday 22 February, 9am – 5.30pm
Online 

This one day conference will take place online bringing together commissioners, policy experts and delivery organisations involved in the youth offer. Join us and feed into recommendations for government and others to influence future policy, funding and implementation decisions. 

Kickstart Community Forum - open to non members

11 February, 10am - 12pm 

Find past Kickstart events and updates on ERSA's YouTube Channel

About the Kickstart Scheme

The Kickstart Scheme provides funding to create new job placements for 16 to 24 year olds on Universal Credit who are at risk of long term unemployment. Employers of all sizes can apply for funding which covers:

Employers can spread the start date of the job placements up until the end of December 2021.

A Kickstart Scheme application must be for a minimum of 30 job placements. If a single employer cannot provide this many job placements, they can find a Kickstart gateway, such as a local authority, charity or trade body for help applying.

Further funding is available for training and support so that young people on the scheme can get a job in the future.

Shared resources

Please note, resources shared here, particularly DWP templates may not be the most up to date are intended to act as a guide to aid applications. Do check, through official sources like gov.uk, your DWP Kickstart representative or your gateway organisation. Please help the ERSA Team by informing us if something is out of date or missing and we will endeavour to correct.

Note: the following documents have been provided by our Kickstart community, not offically through DWP

  • DWP Vacancy Template (word document)
  • DWP Vacancy Template (excel document)
  • DWP Kickstart Scheme – Grant Offer Letter for Gateways
  • DWP Variation Template - Grant Agreement Addition Gateway (word document)
  • The Kickstart Vacancy Template – A completion guide
  • Kickstart Account Managers - awaiting this list from DWP

Thank you to ERSA members and the Kickstart Community for providing the following resources

  • Mencap presentation – making Kickstart inclusive
  • Mencap – application process
  • Mencap – Kickstart scheme outline

  • Arriva - Example of travel voucher schemes

Open opportunities

Skills Burst, audience testing
Through skill based games our Skill Bursts provide personal skill progression, rewards you with nudges towards real-time employment and training opportunities with a particular focus on local emerging, priority and growth sectors.

Working with Nesta, Department for Education and Careers Wales MI Future are looking to engage with;

Who?

  • School leavers not going to university
  • Those furthest from the labour market
  • Those that need to re-enter employment or training

What?

  • Join a facilitated group call where we will demonstrate Skill Bursts, ask you questions in order to gather valuable feedback.

Why?

  • We are committed to designing and building this product with the people that will be using it, user-led, collaborative and inclusive.

, or get in touch with Gemma Hallett

Related content and announcements

£2bn package announced on 8 July as part of the governments ‘Plan for Jobs’

Kickstart Scheme opens for employer applications on 2 September

Useful links

Catch up with previous events on .

Join the conversation

The Kickstart Community Forum is open to all organisations interested in making the scheme work. If you would like to contribute to the community page by sharing resources like templates, links to services or solutions, have an idea for a blog or future agenda item that would be of interest please get in touch with the ERSA Team via .

Kickstart positive news stories
Share your links and press releases with ERSA to be included here and through other ERSA channels to celebrate success!

18 January 2021, Keyline joins Kickstart employment scheme

18 January 2021, BACT joins Kickstart initiative to help young people into work:

15 December 2020, Kent Invicta Chamber of Commerce: 

Contact the ERSA Team
events@ersa.org.uk
policy@ersa.org.uk
membership@ersa.rg.uk