Kickstart Community Forum

Part of ERSA’s Youth Employment 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 the community, register for the next event, or email the team at events@ersa.org.uk.

ERSA Kickstart Report: Extend, Expand and Empower!

Kickstart Scheme: ERSA/DWP Q&A (19 May)
Watch on demand

Contact the team if you have a question via policy@ersa.org.uk.

ERSA Kickstart Report: Extend, Expand and Empower!

Kickstart Case studies

Kickstart Case Study – Mohammed (Mowafak) Al Saty – Ethos VO Ltd

Kickstart Case Study – Charlotte Kinloch – Ethos VO

Important updates about Kickstart Scheme

Applications for the scheme closed on 17 December.

It is not possible to:

apply for a new Kickstart Scheme grant
add more jobs to an existing grant agreement

If your application was successful

You should have:

signed and returned your grant agreement by 11:59pm on 7 January 2022
submitted your vacancies to DWP by 11.59pm on 31 January 2022
started the young person in the job on or before 31 March 2022
told us by 11:59pm on 30 April 2022 that the young person has started their job

You’ll get funding for 6 months once the young person has started their job.

Learn more about the Kickstart Scheme closure.

Getting young people into the Kickstart Scheme jobs
Page summary: Changes to your existing Kickstart Scheme jobs that you need to tell DWP about and how to create more Kickstart Scheme jobs before 17 December 2021.

Apply for a Kickstart Scheme grant through a Kickstart gateway

Page summary: If you’re an employer looking to create jobs for young people, you can apply for funding until 17 December 2021 through a Kickstart gateway.

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Find past Kickstart events and updates on ERSA’s YouTube Channel here.

Shared resources and information

Thank you to Citizens Advice Greater Manchester for sharing some great examples of flyers for advertising Kickstart roles. These have been created using Canva, a free marketing tool (https://www.canva.com/). Download this and other example flyers for inspiration here.

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Regional platforms for advertising Kickstart roles!

Kickstart roles in West Midlands

https://www.youthemployment.org.uk/kickstart-your-career/

Kickstart roles in Liverpool City Region

https://youthhub.be-more.info/kickstart/

Send your vacancies to ERSA for inclusion on the ASK SETH directory for jobseekers and learners and ERSA members can also advertise ‘Employability Jobs’ free of charge here.

Kickstart Vacancy Data

Watch a short video from Jacob Hill, Managing Director, Offploy CIC. Offploy is an approved Gateway with almost 500 placements reviews the data of 10 gateways on their custom-built Kickstart Admin Platform to identify trends and make suggestions to fill / gain new placements on the programme.

Watch here

To compare your gateway performance with our group’s average or to have a look around the system, please book a demo here

What is the Kickstart Scheme?

New instructions for gateway organisations

FAQs for the Kickstart Scheme

Together the community has come together, supporting one another by sharing good practice, resources, answering questions and problem solving. If you have a question about Kickstart, you may find it here via the Frequently asked questions. If you do not find an answer to your question please raise it with the team at policy@ersa.org.uk.

Most commonly asked questions

Does the grant payment include VAT?

Payment queries clarification

What happens if the placement doesn’t work out for either the young person or the employer?

Who do I get in touch with if I have a query about an existing application or grant?

Can ESF participants be referred to the Kickstart Scheme?

You can also view and share the FAQs page directly using the following link https://ersa.org.uk/kickstartfaqs.

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 events@ersa.org.uk.

Register for the next meeting, please register via the ERSA eventbrite page. Follow ERSA there to be notified when events go live!

Contribute to a future agenda, or tell us who you want to hear from by emailing the ERSA Team via events@ersa.org.uk

Full details, latest updates can be found at gov.uk.

Find past Kickstart events and updates on ERSA’s YouTube Channel here

ERSA writes open letter to the chancellor calling for extension to Kickstart

The Kickstart scheme should be extended beyond December 2021, ideally to the end of 2022, and the scheme’s eligibility requirements widened to help support more young people. see ERSA’s open letter on behalf of the Kickstart Community Forum to the chancellor supporting this in FE News here

More support for an extension to the Scheme

Five reasons to extend Kickstart from the Youth Employment Group

Extend Kickstart scheme deadline by six months – CBI President

What good looks like for Young People

Our eight core principles for the Kickstart Scheme, read more
Call for Job Opportunity Guarantee
Good Youth Employment Charter And 1000 Opportunities Campaign Launched September 2020 Read more
GMCA on The GM Young Person’s Guarantee
London Councils, boroughs and the Greater London Authority have drafted a short guide for promoting high-quality placements through the Kickstart scheme, read more.
The TUC have called for Kickstart to deliver: Good quality jobs with training built in; Additional jobs of real value to the community; The programme must be based on equality from the start and Employers should top up wages read more
The Young Person’s Guarantee commits to supporting all of Scotland’s young people to have a bright and prosperous future.The Young Person’s Guarantee offers all young people between 16 to 24 the opportunity of: An apprenticeship; Fair employment – including work experience; Taking part in formal volunteering programmes; Training or Going to uni or college
The Youth Employment Group’s Levelling up for Young People: Building a Young Person’s Guarantee

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 and further support for employers and gateways. Do check latest versions, through official sources like gov.uk, your DWP Kickstart District Account Manager, 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 officially through DWP

Gateway remittance advice example

Vacancy template (word document)

Kickstart Scheme – Grant Offer Letter for Gateways

Variation Template – Grant Agreement Addition Gateway (word document)

The Kickstart Vacancy Template – A completion guide

Kickstart District Account Managers – not currently available as a full list

Mencap presentation – making Kickstart inclusive

Mencap – application process

Mencap – Kickstart scheme outline

Mencap is a learning disability charity and Kickstart gateway organisation

Arriva – Example of travel voucher schemes