Kickstart
What is Kickstart?
Kickstart provides real job placements for young people aged 16–24 currently claiming Universal Credit, to gain experience, skills, and confidence.
Funder
The Kickstart programme was launched by the Government in August 2020 to support young people in the UK that have lost jobs and opportunities because of the coronavirus pandemic.
As a Gateway, Better Connect works with employers to offer exciting opportunities for Young People.
About Kickstart
We want to create a partnership of values-based organisations that are committed to creating meaningful and inclusive placements for young people of all backgrounds, with a focus on providing genuine community benefit.
Our programme aims to create a triple legacy:
- Step-change opportunity for young people to gain relevant and enjoyable work experience in a supportive role where they are making a difference to their community.
- Promote the Voluntary, Community Sector and Social Enterprises as a career option for young people resulting in an increase in the number of young people choosing to build their career in charities and social businesses.
- Increase the capacity of Voluntary and Community organisations, Businesses and Social Enterprises and support them to further develop and embed inclusive and supportive cultures that outlive the life of this project.
Who we want to work with:
- Values-based organisations across York, North and West Yorkshire and the East Riding with supportive and empowering workplace culture.
- Organisations that make a genuine difference to their communities, whether they are in the non-profit, statutory or private sector.
- People who are passionate about being able to support a young person to make a positive first step for their future career.
- Organisations who are committed to learning and growing and want to further improve their employments practises and learn from others.
Employers will receive funding for placements of 25 hours/week on the National Minimum Wage or Living Wage depending on the young person’s age.
Better Connect are a Gateway Provider for the Kickstart programme.
As a Gateway provider, we are an intermediary between the DWP and the Employer. We work directly with the employers to create the opportunities, submit all contractual documentation to the DWP, and monitor the success of the opportunities.
As a Gateway, we are keen to create a network of employers that can learn and develop ways to best support young people in their roles.
Current Kickstart Employment Opportunities
We have a range of exciting Kickstart opportunities that have not yet been filled by young people! All employers that are approved through our gateway are committed to creating inclusive and supportive placements within their organisations.
We would love to see these opportunities filled. See below a list of all the opportunities we currently have available. If any of these seem interesting to you get in touch with your work coach and ask to be ‘referred’ to the role. Please also share these opportunities with anyone else you feel may be interested!
| Employer | Vacancy Title | Location |
|---|---|---|
| Local IT Solutions Ltd | Technical Assistant | Easingwold, York |
| Sturdy Foods | Production Operatives (x3) | Ripon |
| Azesta Training | Office Administrator | Harrogate |
| Pro-Development UK | Learning and Development Assistant | York |
| St Nicks | Digital Communications Assistant & Community Engagement Worker | York |
| Humankind | Multiple Vacancies | Harrogate/Selby, Hartlepool, Stockton, Darlington, Newton Aycliffe |
| Chain Lane Community Centre | Communities/Facilities Worker | Knaresborough |
| Two Ridings Community Foundation | Office Assistant | York |
| Hamara Healthy Living Centre | Catering Assistant | Leeds |
| Learning Partnerships | Communications Assistant | Leeds |
| Gorse Scitt | Administration Assistant x 3 | Morley, Leeds |
Become Part of Kickstart
Do you think that your organisation would be able to be offer an exciting opportunity for a young person?
We will be submitting ‘additional’ opportunities to the DWP each month. Please complete and download our expression of interest form here..
Please send your expression of interest forms AND a job description for the roles you are offering to Hannah Prole on [email protected].
If you have any questions you would like to ask please get in touch with Hannah, Programmes Manager for Kickstart and she will be happy to talk to you.
Useful Documents & Links
Introduction Video
We ran an introduction to the programme and we recorded the session. If you missed the event then you can see it
Q & A Session
After introducing the programme we ran a Q & A session, you can view this here
Kickstart Presentation
The presentation used to introduce kickstart
Kickstart FAQ Sheet
A PDF FAQ sheet with information about the Kickstart programme