First Kickstart employees for County Durham organisation have joined the ranks

@_LearningCurve Group (LCG) are playing a vital role in supporting young people into roles through the Government’s #KickstartScheme 

The £2billion Kickstart scheme, announced by the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, as part of his ‘Plan for Jobs’ enables employers to offer six-month job placements for 16-24-year-olds at risk of long-term unemployment, with their wages paid by Government for up to 25 hours per week.

This year has seen the most people out of work since 1994 and as the pandemic gained momentum, lots of young people saw themselves unemployed, in particular those leaving education. LCG recognised the outstanding opportunity that the scheme presented and have already applied and had approval for 30 and hired 15 individuals through the scheme; helping young people back into the workplace or into their first role.

Louise Clough, Director of People, said:

“The roles we have identified give individuals a chance to experience departments such as HR, Marketing and Health and Safety which are industries that traditionally require higher level qualifications to enter so, the ability to utilise the scheme start people off on long term successful careers was a no-brainer.”

Not only are LCG utilising this scheme themselves, they are also an approved gateway organisation for businesses that don’t meet the government criteria of 30 positions per application. The minimum number of positions per application, as set out by Government, is a barrier for smaller to medium sized enterprises when it comes to taking advantage of the scheme. Government recognise this and to aid in administrative output, select approved Gateway organisations are able to combine positions from multiple organisations to meet the minimum numbers required.

Learning Curve Group apply for placements and funding on behalf of a business, regardless of the number of opportunities they have within their organisation, significantly reducing the administrative pressure on your business, too. Once DWP approves the application, Job Centre Plus (JCP) advertise the placement referring any suitable applicants to LCG to sift. Once the recruitment and interview process has been completed, the business gets to make the final decision – saving essential time.

One of the first applications LCG have submitted is for a business seeking warehousing and customer service staff in the North West of England has been approved. They hope this will be the first of many cohorts they wish to recruit, giving unemployed people a fantastic opportunity.

Since receiving gateway approval, LCG has over 40 employers offering a significant amount of roles, with a further 200 employers finalising plans to utilise the scheme to recruit across England and Scotland in roles such as Care, Admin, Warehousing and Teaching Assistant roles.

Louise continued:  “We are using the kickstart scheme in LCG as a way to support young people back into the workplace (or into their first role). As the scheme offers 25 hours subsidised wages, many of the roles we have established are of an administrative level in departments where they can gain the experience needed to make an informed decision about their future career goals.

Should our first  cohort go well, we’ve plans to expand the application to 42 roles across the LCG Group so we can help transform as many lives as possible.”

New employee Georgia, who joined LCG last week via the Kickstart Scheme said:

“I have thoroughly enjoyed my first week. It is really giving me the boost I needed to give me the experience and confidence to help me pave the way for my future. I am thankful to Learning Curve Group for offering me such a great opportunity and I would really recommend anyone who is in that same position to ask their local Job Centre about this scheme”