By: Denis Sheehan, Publisher, H&C News
Young people are more than twice as likely to work in industries adversely impacted by the pandemic, and youth unemployment is 11% above pre-pandemic levels. To address these issues Thérèse Coffey, Secretary of State for Work and Pensions launched the government’s Kickstart Scheme.
The scheme was designed to provide unemployed young people on Universal Credit with a six-month work placement, government paying the employees minimum wages for a 25 hour week.
Now six months into the government’s Kickstart Scheme, what has the scheme achieved?
With £2 billion of funding Kickstart more than doubled the 2009 Labour government of the times’ Future Jobs Fund. Other advantages of Kickstart include being open to the private sector as well as public.
Announced in July 2020 as part of the chancellor’s Plan for Jobs, Kickstart was designed to bring 250,000 young people off Universal Credit and into part time work. Now, a full 8 months later only 16,500 young people have joined the scheme across all industries.
On launch 30 Kickstart placements was the minimum requirement to take part in the scheme, excluding all small and many medium sized business that make up the majority in hospitality. That was then amended.
Delays within the Department of Work and Pensions in processing kickstart applications led to further problems, as many businesses needed people immediately, not in the months ahead the DWP process offered.
The DWP claimed that it needed two weeks to approve jobs, but early employers willing to adopt the scheme reported a reality of at least four weeks. Then factoring in time to advertise and attract applicants and processing interviews created a timeline closer to 12 weeks.
The qualification of only accepting people on Universal Credit has been widely criticised as unnecessary, that the scheme should be open to all young people. Many school leavers and graduates are excluded as a consequence, precisely the people most hospitality businesses would welcome with open arms.
Some went as far to suggest the scheme from the government’s perspective was all about nothing more than temporarily reducing the numbers of people on Universal Credit. Job opportunities presented to a homogeneous group motivated by positive headlines on reducing benefits.
By the end of 2021, estimates predict the UK will see a million unemployed under the age of 25, if Kickstart is going to impact as designed to, adding 250,000 jobs to the economy, much will have to change. The government’s intentions for Kickstart may be good, but in reality the results to date are lamentable.
Dear fellow citizens of the UK, please lower your hospitality and staycation expectations 2021
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Hospitality & Catering News: Kickstart Report: Lamentable, must do better. – 9 June 2021 – Kickstart Report: Lamentable, must do better.
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