To date, the scheme has seen near to 200,000 starts, with approx. 9,000 young persons were placed in the East of England alone. The Kickstart Scheme was launched by the Government in late 2020 to deliver funding for employers offering new job roles for 16-24 years old who are currently in receipt of Universal Credit. The programme is aimed at preventing young people who are currently unemployed and facing long term unemployment. As a Gateway, the Chambers has acted as an intermediary to help employer managers/recruit their Kickstart Placements. It has been reported that 70% of jobs filled have been through Gateways. As a Gateway, to date, we have helped just under 100 businesses with 298 young persons finding placements with our employers. with 18 moving into apprenticeships and 30 going into employment, which is fantastic! The young person had to be placed by 31 March 2022, however, they will remain in place until 31 September 2022. We have had such positive reactions from our employers on how successful the scheme has been, along with the Chambers support as a Gateway. Fran Ellington – Triple Bottom Line Accounting “We applied for these placements in the previous year, in a period of economic uncertainty as the country entered the second period of lockdown measures. At the time, it was risky to be taking on extra employees. It did not seem to be fair to take on new staff without some guarantee of longer-term employment. The funded kickstart scheme was clearly designed to give young people six months of work experience with formal training thrown in. As it turned out, we struck gold twice! We employed a university graduate and an 18-year-old school leaver. As a Real Living Wage employer, we topped up their salary to £9.50 an hour and arranged formal training through First Intuition, ICAEW Certificate in Finance, Accounting and Business (ICAEW CFAB), and Steadfast Training. It was not long before they proved their potential, and we extended their hours from 25 to 36, the standard TBLA full-time contract. Both have now accepted permanent contracts of employment with TBLA and we have enrolled them on the apprenticeship scheme so that they can start their journey toward professional qualifications while working with us. Under the circumstances, this was a risk-free approach to getting young people into full-time employment and helping them make some informed decisions about their future careers. “ Holly Stibbon – Managing Director at 101 Websites, Apps & Email Marketing “I was absolutely delighted to meet Kelsey & Morwenna at the Kick Start jobs fair. They have now both been working for 101 for 2 months and are a perfect fit within the team. Both are extremely competent and driven individuals who are proving to be a real asset to 101. Keen to take on new challenges to assist customers, prospects and colleagues whilst improving their own skills. I am grateful for the commitment they have shown and the hard work they have put in. I am certain that these two ladies are destined to do very well for themselves in the future.” Kelsey Bowen – Kickstarter at 101 Websites, Apps & Email Marketing “Joining Kickstart has given me a great opportunity to develop new skills within my job role. It has helped and continues to help improve my skills within the workplace that can be placed on my CV to show my capabilities and commitment while working! Kickstarter is opening opportunities for those that have struggled to find work or not had the needed skills.” Paul Jones – Chief People Officer at NNUH “The Government’s Kickstart Scheme has been an excellent opportunity for us as a Trust to welcome 16–24-year-olds from the local community into our organisation on a six-month paid work placement. As one of the largest employers in the county, we have a special responsibility to create entry routes into employment. I am pleased to see such a variety of placements across the Trust and proud of all the teams and managers that have embraced supporting this initiative. Although this is a brand-new initiative, we have an incredibly high retention rate of supporting candidates into employment following programmes of this type. I am hopeful that we will be able to support these.” Zac Gotts joined the NNUH Kickstart Scheme in June as a Rehabilitation and Wellbeing Assistant. With aspirations to become a paramedic in the future, Zac knew that the Kickstart Scheme would provide him with the opportunity to gain knowledge of working in a Healthcare setting and provide him with hands-on experience. Since working in his placement, Zac has flourished and has recently been successful in obtaining an Apprentice Physiotherapy Assistant at the Trust which he will commence in later this year. “I applied to the Kickstart programme as a way of being able to obtain practical NHS experience and develop my skills. From working in my role, I have not only gained a strong interest in the technical aspects of the job but have also been able to find out about the roles of the Physiotherapists who work at the NNUH. I will soon be commencing my Apprentice Physiotherapy Assistant role and I am really looking forward to being able to continue my training and further my career in the NHS!” Matt Chapman – Managing Director at IVB “The Kickstart scheme could not have come along at a better time for us at IVB in Great Yarmouth. Being predominately in the Oil and Energy sector we had hit hard times from the reduction in the global oil price as well as COVID-19 which reduced our turnover significantly. Using the kickstart scheme we have been able to take on a new local person as a Technical Administrator who is now helping our business get back on track again and is part of our happy team. In turn, we are keen to help them on their career journey and support them as best we can. In our case, we are really happy with the Kickstart process and our new IVB team member!” Sophie Golsby – Widening Participation Lead at Queen Elizabeth Hospital “It has been great to work collaboratively with Norfolk Chambers, College of West Anglia and our local DWP office, as well as the different teams and departments across the hospital. It is the most rewarding piece of work I have been involved with for a long time. It’s great to see the level of confidence of each individual increasing week by week and I am hopeful that we will be able to offer some permanent roles upon completion of the programme. This cohort of 8 young people has been such a success that we have had no difficulty in encouraging others to host a placement for cohort 2 (November) and cohort 3 (March). We are also delighted we have been able to offer most of the placements, positions within the QEH following the end of their placements.” Matt Nudd – Managing Director at Ship Shape World “Smooth and seamless setup by Norfolk Chamber of Commerce!” Natallia Ristache – Continental Product Engineering Ltd “As a business, we have been very pleased with the opportunity given by the government back in 2020 and help offered in finding the right people locally under the Kickstart scheme. The slow start when the scheme was introduced, followed by rather a quick rollout later in the following year, and we are very thankful to Norfolk Chambers for their support, advice and offer of every available opportunity to communicate with a potential candidate, despite challenges that arise due to Covid and remoteness of our location. There is a massive benefit in being able to offer work to young people, see them change and support them to grow their experience in their chosen field. Having the scheme enrolled locally also carry benefit for the candidate as they have been introduced to the business in their local area, they perhaps never knew was looking for applicants. People we had a pleasure to work with and those, we are delighted to extend Kickstart contract into a full-time permanent contract, are very promising and hopefully will stay with our business for very many years, progressing on their own ladder, contributing to their own welfare and independence and of course to the success and growth of our business!” Atul Patel – Director at Marine Court “As a Kickstart employer who has been working with Charlotte. I just want to inform you of how responsive, attentive, and professional she has been to work with, she makes things so easy to work with and has been patient with me when I have been exasperated with the candidates. Thanks!” Nicky Gilkes – Managing Director at NK Childcare “Just wanted to say thanks for your support, both emotionally and administratively, over the last c.10 months. I have really appreciated it!” Sydney Golding – Kickstart Placement at Aerospace Inspection Services “There is no doubt I learnt a lot from my short time here. At times it was challenging but I absolutely loved it, it taught me to challenge myself to be consistent and to not be afraid to go out of my comfort zone. One thing I wanted to improve was my communication skills, however, I feel like has improved! What I have learnt in this role I will use in future jobs. I have also learned how to be independent and to also work in a team which I have found very handy. Adam Wood – Customer Experience Team Kickstarter at Evander “Before joining the Kickstart Scheme, every job I applied for said I didn’t have enough experience – so this is a great opportunity to gain business admin skills.”
