16,500 young people have been placed into new roles, but will there be a Kickstart extension?

Youth Employment UK (@YEUK2012) were delighted to be given the opportunity to talk to Minister for Employment @MimsDavies MP about the departments response to the impact Covid has had on youth unemployment.

The Minister shared that 195,000 Kickstart opportunities have been approved, 95,000 of which are live and 16,500 young people have been placed into Kickstart roles.

As an organisation that directly supports young people and employers Youth Employment UK have been working closely with the DWP through our own work and through our work as co-founder of the Youth Employment Group.

We shared the concerns of the people from our network including:

• the challenge of engaging with young people who would benefit the most from kickstart
• placement numbers
• the appetite of employers to create good quality and meaningful opportunities
• We also asked the big question about Kickstart extension!

As an organisation we are really pleased to have such a positive relationship with DWP and colleagues across government. The desire for partnership working, access to external expertise and insight including youth voice has been evident these last 12 months and we look forward to this continuing as Youth Employment UK take a lead role in promoting opportunities to young people this summer through #CreateYourFuture and in building an even bigger network of Youth Friendly Employers.