is the Kickstart Scheme?

WHAT

The Kickstart Scheme is an initiative created by the UK government to get more young people, aged between 16-24, into employment. In exchange for hiring out-of-work candidates that meet the scheme’s eligibility criteria, the government will cover the full employment costs of each individual hired.

was it created?

WHY

Young people are amongst the hardest hit by the Covid-19 global pandemic. As of August 2020, the number of British 16-24-year-olds claiming unemployment benefits stood at  537,700. This is an increase of 122% since March of the same year. Furthermore, over the same time period, the UK economy has seen a total of 730,000 thousand jobs vanish from the payroll, reflecting the difficulty young people face in finding a job in the current climate. In response to these alarming statistics, the UK government has decided to take action. Any UK based 16-24 year old currently receiving unemployment benefits is eligible to enrol and find a job.

does it work?

HOW

After completing the application form, your application will be assessed against the government’s eligibility requirements:

  • The vacancy in your business must be newly created;

  • The job should offer at least 25h a week for 6 months (minimum);

  • Candidates should not be required to have extensive training prior to being hired.

This is not a competitive process or first-come, first-served basis. The government has allocated a budget of £2b to create circa of 250,000 job placements through this scheme, so all applications are welcome.

If accepted onto the UK Kickstart Jobs Scheme you will receive funding for every new employee you hire. Payment is made every 2 months, so you must be able to pay their salary (minimum wage for their age group), their national insurance contributions, and their pension contribution. Employers also have the option of topping up the employee’s salary or extending the weekly working hours if they so choose.

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How to get involved?

Free Signup 

It's free to sign up. There are no costs upfront and no ongoing costs. You get a full refund for their monthly salary.

Interview Process

HPC has access to thousands of young professionals and business owners. We'll do the matching and provide training.

Training

We will provide the training the government requires for the newly employed to develop a career in Marketing & PR.

To receive the grant you must create 30 jobs or more. If you're unable to create 30 job vacancies, you can work with representatives, like High Profile Club.

As your representative, we will find suitable candidates, train them and provide them with a laptop.

ATTENTION

We provide them with the skills they need to find a job in the future - if you're unable to offer them employment after 6 months working for you. 

We have developed a training programme so they will join your business fully trained, ready to start working.

Do you

High Profile Club is pleased to announce it has applied to participate in the UK Kickstart Jobs Scheme as a representative organisation. Funding is available for 100% of the relevant National Minimum Wage for 25 hours a week, plus associated employer National Insurance contributions and employer minimum automatic enrollment contributions.
If you are interested in hiring between 1 and 29 young people (16-24yo) under the scheme, please get in touch. 

KNOW

a young professional that could benefit from the scheme? If they are between 16-24 years old and they are on Universal Credit, they could benefit from the scheme. 

This page explains the scheme for young people. 

Facebook Group

We created a group on Facebook to help business owners and provide more information

Frequently Asked Questions

Intermediaries

Does High Profile Club charge for this service?

As a representative of a group of business owners, we will get paid the setup fees to support your business. This fee is paid by the government. The govenment pays £1500 towards recruiting and training. HPC gets pais £750 and you, the employer, gets paid £750, which can be used to buy a laptop, clothes, rent a desk, etc.
The services we will provide to business owners and employees are: - apply for the grant on your behalf; - to manage the paperwork during the hiring process and during the six months the employee will work with you; - we will collect the payslips to send to the government so you can be refunded (month 2, 4 and 6); -we will do all the paperwork on your behalf, unless, of course, you are employing 30+ people (we can't help you then - we only help employers looking for 1-29 people). - we will help candidates to write their CVs; - we will liaise between you and the Job Centers and find the right candidates for you; - we will prepare the candidates, so they feel more confident at the interviews; - once you choose a candidate, we will provide the following training: * Self-confidence, negotiation and presentation skills; * Digital marketing, PR and communications skills; they will develop a marketing plan and work with you to complete the marketing and PR tasks, as well as the business admin tasks you will be giving them; * Introduction to the world of work: prepare for employment, timekeeping, communication skills (emails, phone, etc.); - we will collect their payslips from you and submit to the government so you can get the full refund for their salary, NIN and pension expenses (only representatives can do this or employers who are employing 30+ or more); - we will work with you to replace the candidate if it's not a good fit. NOTE: You can not post your job online. It would be best if you let your representative know what you are looking for, and they will liaise with the Job Center to find a candidate. You must hire candidates the Job Centre introduces to you, so take in consideration that a lot of 16-24-year-olds may have NO experience at all so that they will need some training before the start, that's why we're offering this service. We already trained hundreds of marketing and PR interns.



Do I need to sign a contract?

No. You don't need to sign a contract.
We will provide the Terms and Conditions page once the Gov has finalised the details.
We will provide the services explained unded "Question 6 - Does High Profile Club charge for this service".



How quickly will High Profile Club find an employee?

We have contact with Central Government and Job Centres around the country.
We already compiled 2500 CVs of young people and started checking their skills.
As soon as the Gov gives us the green light, we will start the recruitment process.
We believe it will take a month from now (1st week of Sept) for the scheme to start.



What are intermediary organisations and why do I need to work with one?

To attract and support the wide range of employers that will make the Kickstart Scheme a success, the government needs the local and sector-specific knowledge of organisations that are willing to act as intermediaries to employers to access the Kickstart Scheme. The government also knows many smaller organisations may lack expertise or resource to deliver support to a young person at risk of long term unemployment to help them build their skills. That's why some of the intermediaries will aslo provide the training and support the young person will need to find employement after they have been employed for six months.



Employees

Who pays the employee's salary?

The government will pay the salary + NIN contribution and + pension contributions.
The refund is made every two months, so you must be able to pay their wages and expenses for two months. You will get a refund on months 2, 4 and 6.
You must provide them with a payslip. They must be on your payroll. They can't be self-employed or on zero-hour contract.



Can I extend their contract?

As fas as we're aware, no you can not, but you can hire someone else after six months.
We are still receiving information from the government and will update this page daily.



Can I hire a graduate?

Yes, you can. They must be registered with a job centre, be between 16-24 years old and receiving Universal Credit.



Can employees work remotely?

Ideally, they should be working from an office environment, but they could work remotely sometimes.



How many employees can I hire?

If you want to employ more than 30 people:
- we can't help you. You have to apply directly on the .gov.uk website. If you want to employ between 1 and 29 people:
- you can not apply directly to the Gov website if you're recruiting less than 30 employees, you need to do via an intermediary, that's why we're here to help you. We will manage all the process on your behalf, from finding candidates to training them and providing them with the skills the government requires.



Will employees bring their own laptops?

You will receive £750 towards set up fees so you can buy or rent a laptop for your new employee.



Employers

If I am self employed, can I apply for this scheme?

No. you can't. You must have a limited company to be able to pay the employee via your payroll. Please do get in touch with us and we will be able to help you.



How long is this scheme going to last?

Until December 2021.



Can I hire someone I know?

The purpose of the scheme is to help young people 16-24 years old who are receiving Universal Credit. If you know someone that fits the government criteria, you can employ them, but they can not be someone who has worked for you in the past and has been fired or made redundant. HMRC will check if they have been on your payroll in the past if they were, your application will be declined.



Is my company eligible?

Your company is eligilble if it's registed on Companies House. It can be a LLP, Limited or charity. As long as you register the young person on your payroll and they receive a payslip, your company is eligible in the scheme.
The scheme is for all companies sizes and sectors.



Would you like to apply for the grant?

Please fill the form below so we can get in touch with you.

High Profile Club Limited.®  2020 | Logo and name are protected by trademark worldwide. -  Registered in England, number 10911059.

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