Fewer than 10,000 Kickstart job placements have been made available for Jobcentre Plus work coaches to refer eligible young people to

DWP Minister advises that remainder of the more than 123,000 placements approved for funding will become available to jobcentres once employers provide job details and start dates

The Employment Minister Mims Davies has confirmed that fewer than 10,000 Kickstart job placements have been made available for Jobcentre Plus work coaches to refer eligible young people to.

Responding to a written question in the House of Commons yesterday, on progress of the Kickstart youth employment programme launched in September 2020, Ms Davies provides data on the number of new approved job placements and new employment starts in the four months from September to December 2020.

While the statistics show that the DWP had approved funding for almost 60,000 job placements over the four-month period up to the beginning of January 2021, Ms Davies reports that less than a sixth of these had progressed to the next stage of the process -

‘As of 12 January 2021 there have been 9,371 Kickstart job placements made available for Jobcentre Plus work coaches to refer eligible young people to …

… a Kickstart job placement becomes available once the employer has provided the job details and confirmed when they want to fill it. It is then advertised via Job Centre Plus for referrals of eligible young people to apply for, ensuring they get a full rounded experience of both applying for and undertaking employment.’

NB - the data also confirms information provided in a written answer last week that fewer than 2,000 young people have actually started on a placement since the scheme started.

In addition, responding to a further written question on the scheme yesterday, Ms Davies provides an update on the total number of Kickstart job placements created so far -

‘As of 22 January 2021, there have been 123,898 new job placements approved for funding by the Department for Work and Pensions’ Kickstart scheme. We are actively seeking more Kickstart job placements that can start before December 2021 and would welcome further applications from employers.’

Ms Davies' written answers on progress of the Kickstart scheme and total approved placements are available from parliament.uk