Recommendations & Conclusions
14 items
2
Recommendation
Thirty-Ninth Report - DWP Employment Su…
Accepted
Many employers have been frustrated at the slow progress in finding suitable people to fill the Kickstart vacancies they have created. The Department initially aimed for 250,000 people to have started Kickstart jobs by the end of December 2021, but in practice take up of the scheme has been slower. …
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Many employers have been frustrated at the slow progress in finding suitable people to fill the Kickstart vacancies they have created. The Department initially aimed for 250,000 people to have started Kickstart jobs by the end of December 2021, but in practice take up of the scheme has been slower. Although the number of young unemployed people searching for work has been well over 200,000 in every month since April 2020 and employers have offered well over 200,000 potential Kickstart jobs, there had only been around 100,000 Kickstart job starts by the beginning of December 2021. The Department attributes the slower than expected progress to wider economic and policy factors, such as the extension of the furlough scheme, the reintroduction of national lockdown in early 2021, and the reopening of the economy in summer 2021. The Department also considers that some employers may initially have set their expectations of the available candidates too high. Overall, there were around 144,000 young people claiming Universal Credit and searching for work for more than one year (the long-term unemployed) in September 2021, and the Department did not explain why this volume of people have not moved into the available Kickstart jobs. The Department also lacks data on how long it takes to 6 DWP Employment Support: Kickstart Scheme fill individual Kickstart jobs after they have been approved. Failing to have this kind of basic management information is reflective of a disappointing lack of curiosity from the Department about how the scheme is actually working for employers and the young people that the scheme is meant to help. Recommendation: The Department should: a) ensure Kickstart jobs are accessible to the people Kickstart is trying to help, and that employers have realistic expectations about the potential candidates; and b) ensure it is able to record and report accurately on basic measures such as the number of people on Universal Credit that are suitable for Kickstart by
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Government response AI summary
The government disagrees that slow progress was made in finding suitable people to fill Kickstart vacancies. Since the scheme started, around 160,000 Kickstart jobs have been filled by young people, with the final Kickstart jobs started by young people on 31 March 2022.
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HM Treasury
4
Recommendation
Thirty-Ninth Report - DWP Employment Su…
Accepted
Work coaches decide which young people will benefit most from Kickstart but the Department has no way of knowing if they refer the right people to employers. DWP Employment Support: Kickstart Scheme 7 The Kickstart Scheme is available to young people, who are on Universal Credit and whom a jobcentre …
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Work coaches decide which young people will benefit most from Kickstart but the Department has no way of knowing if they refer the right people to employers. DWP Employment Support: Kickstart Scheme 7 The Kickstart Scheme is available to young people, who are on Universal Credit and whom a jobcentre work coach believes is at risk of long-term unemployment. The Department did not set firm rules to target the scheme, such as rules over how long someone has been receiving Universal Credit, or levels of educational qualifications, and instead relies on individual work coaches to decide based on their understanding of the claimants’ needs and circumstances. The National Audit Office has reported that this work coach discretion is central to the Department’s wider employment support offer, and whilst this person-centric approach is welcome the lack of structured monitoring of how work coaches are helping people towards work means the Department cannot know if it is providing a consistently high quality service to all claimants. The Department has completed only occasional, ad hoc analysis of Kickstart participants’ characteristics, such as their ethnicity or educational attainment to try to understand how the scheme has been targeted. Recommendations: The Department should use management information to monitor and manage how work coaches are deciding what support would work best for different claimants. The Department should also implement our previous recommendation, which it accepted, to publish a full evaluation of how well its work coaches provide employment support and how consistently they apply their judgement, by December 2022.
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Government response AI summary
The government agrees to use management information to monitor and manage how work coaches are deciding what support would work best for different claimants. However, the department disagrees that they have no way of knowing if work coaches are referring the right people.
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HM Treasury
5
Recommendation
Thirty-Ninth Report - DWP Employment Su…
Accepted
The Department does not monitor properly how well employers are supporting Kickstart participants. The Department pays £1,500 per Kickstart participant to employers to fund set-up costs and employability support for Kickstart participants, which it hopes will make participants more employable in the future. However, it does not specify or offer …
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The Department does not monitor properly how well employers are supporting Kickstart participants. The Department pays £1,500 per Kickstart participant to employers to fund set-up costs and employability support for Kickstart participants, which it hopes will make participants more employable in the future. However, it does not specify or offer detailed guidance or signposting on what employers should provide for this money and does not routinely collect data on what they actually do provide. Additionally, where employers are involved with the Kickstart Scheme through a Gateway, this funding goes directly to the Gateway and the Department has no visibility of how the money is distributed to employers, or how Gateways apply checks on employers they manage. The Department was interested in whether it could have given more leeway to allow gateways to hold back the £1,500 employability support payments until employers demonstrated it would be spent wisely, speaking about this in the context of the planned evaluation. The Department does investigate specific, potentially serious concerns that its staff or young people raise, and also has a team of Kickstart District Account Managers who discuss job quality and employability support with employers and Gateways. However, information from these discussions is not collated centrally, and the Department seemed to be overly reliant on anecdotes and to lack the tighter metrics and data to assure itself that that the scheme is working as intended. When the Department finds out that an employer is providing no employment support to a young person, or employment support that is not up to scratch, it is not clear that it is able to claw back the £1,500 it has given them to provide this support. Recommendation: The Department should set out clear and specific expectations from employers and Gateways to ensure that Kickstart participants get the experience and the employability support that they have been promised, and it 8 DWP Emplo
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Government response AI summary
The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. As part of the Scheme evaluation is covering the delivery of employability support using employer and gateways surveys. The department is also considering options for undertaking sample checks on employers, which will include whether the employability support is …
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HM Treasury
6
Recommendation
Thirty-Ninth Report - DWP Employment Su…
Accepted
It is not clear how the Department uses Kickstart in tandem with its other employment support to best sustain young people in work. The Department aims to provide tailored help based on work coach’s understanding of the claimants they work with. However, it is not clear that there is a …
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It is not clear how the Department uses Kickstart in tandem with its other employment support to best sustain young people in work. The Department aims to provide tailored help based on work coach’s understanding of the claimants they work with. However, it is not clear that there is a managed “pathway” or sequence of interventions for each young person, such as somebody who needs to build confidence before they are ready to apply for an open market or Kickstart job, or what engagement there is with employers to sustain employment after Kickstart. It is hard to see how the Department is using Kickstart in concert with its other employment schemes, though the Department reassured us that Kickstart participants could go on to take part in apprenticeships. We were disappointed however, at the lack of clarity on whether anyone in the Department, or the Department for Education, is responsible for making sure that a conversation with a Kickstart employer about apprenticeships actually happens. Recommendation: The Department should work out the best blend of all the support it offers to help Universal Credit claimants be confident to apply for a job, give each individual the best chance of getting that job, and work with employers to sustain jobs. It should set out the criteria by which it will determine which form of employment support it offers will be most appropriate for different Universal Credit claimants, given their age, needs, skills, and employment history. In addition, it should make sure that either itself, or the Department for Education, talk to all Kickstart employers to make sure they know what other employment schemes they could get involved in, including apprenticeships. DWP Employment Support: Kickstart Scheme 9 1 Administering Kickstart and future employment support schemes
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Government response AI summary
The government states that work coach discretion is fundamental, outlining the Youth Offer, support during Kickstart jobs, the Way to Work campaign, and comprehensive guidance for DWP colleagues.
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HM Treasury
1
Recommendation
Thirty-Ninth Report - DWP Employment Su…
Accepted
On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence from the Department for Work and Pensions (the Department) about the Kickstart Scheme.1 The Government announced the Kickstart Scheme on 8 July 2020 as part of its wider Plan for Jobs, a package of measures …
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On the basis of a report by the Comptroller and Auditor General, we took evidence from the Department for Work and Pensions (the Department) about the Kickstart Scheme.1 The Government announced the Kickstart Scheme on 8 July 2020 as part of its wider Plan for Jobs, a package of measures aimed at protecting and creating jobs during the COVID-19 pandemic.2 Kickstart funds employers to create six-month jobs for young people aged 16–24, who are on Universal Credit and deemed to be at risk of long-term unemployment. The funding covers 25 hours per week of employment at the national minimum wage.3
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Government response AI summary
The government will continue to conduct a routine review of COVID-19 costs where there have been material changes reliably attributed to COVID-19 and provide public updates annually for the next two years, after which the Treasury will review what is still required.
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HM Treasury
8
Conclusion
Thirty-Ninth Report - DWP Employment Su…
Accepted
Another factor in the reduced take up of the scheme has been the length of time taken by the Department to advertise and fill Kickstart roles.28 Some employers have complained of delays, both in the Department’s processes for accepting bids for vacancies, and in receiving referrals of young people to …
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Another factor in the reduced take up of the scheme has been the length of time taken by the Department to advertise and fill Kickstart roles.28 Some employers have complained of delays, both in the Department’s processes for accepting bids for vacancies, and in receiving referrals of young people to interview for Kickstart jobs.29 The Department told us it was confident it had sped up its own administrative processes over time.30 Conversely, the Department told us that employers were taking longer to return scheme forms, although in some cases these delays were exaggerated by shortcomings and inaccuracies in its own management information.31 The Department also conceded that its management information only allowed it to track how long it took to process and advertise vacancies, not how long it took to actually fill vacancies once advertised. The Department agreed that it would be interesting to be able to measure this aspect of the scheme’s performance, but did not suggest it was taking any actions to develop such a measure.32 The Department’s best indication from its data was that it has generally taken several months to fill each job once advertised, though some have been filled much faster.33
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Government response AI summary
The government disagrees with the committee's assertion that slow progress was made in finding suitable people to fill Kickstart vacancies, highlighting that around 160,000 Kickstart jobs have been filled and detailing various engagement methods with employers.
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HM Treasury
9
Conclusion
Thirty-Ninth Report - DWP Employment Su…
Accepted
Employers told the National Audit Office that in some cases they did not receive any referrals of job candidates at all, and that sometimes the Department removed their vacancies from its system without explanation.34 The charity Catch22, which has acted as a Kickstart gateway, told us that, in its experience, …
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Employers told the National Audit Office that in some cases they did not receive any referrals of job candidates at all, and that sometimes the Department removed their vacancies from its system without explanation.34 The charity Catch22, which has acted as a Kickstart gateway, told us that, in its experience, even when young people are referred to a vacancy, only around 20% actually make contact with the employer. In some cases, it said vacancies would receive over 50 referrals, but not a single young person would get in touch with the relevant employer.35 The Department suggested that situations like this, in which young people were referred for a vacancy but did not follow through to an interview, were less likely to happen when it was possible to bring work coaches, young 24 C&AG’s Report, paragraph 1.8. 25 PQ 904719 [on labour shortages and employment schemes], 13 December 2021. 26 Q2; C&AG’s Report, paragraph 2.9. 27 Q61; C&AG’s Report, paragraph 2.11. 28 C&AG’s Report, paragraph 2.10. 29 C&AG’s Report, paragraph 2.12. 30 Qq40, 45. 31 Q52. 32 Q54. 33 C&AG’s Report, paragraph 2.14. 34 C&AG’s Report, paragraph 2.4. 35 Ev DES0001 Catch-22. 12 DWP Employment Support: Kickstart Scheme people, and employers together in job centres.36 The Department also suggested that, in some cases, employers had unrealistic expectations of the types of role they could fill through the scheme.37
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Government response AI summary
The government disagrees that slow progress was made and outlines existing efforts, including District Account Managers, employer events, enhanced functionality on the Find a Job service, and advice to employers on managing expectations.
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HM Treasury
11
Conclusion
Thirty-Ninth Report - DWP Employment Su…
Accepted
The Department developed an evaluation plan to assess Kickstart’s impacts early on in the scheme’s development.42 This plan has two main elements. The first element is an analysis of Kickstart participants’ employment records, time on benefits, and earnings after their placements have finished, compared with the equivalent outcomes for similar …
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The Department developed an evaluation plan to assess Kickstart’s impacts early on in the scheme’s development.42 This plan has two main elements. The first element is an analysis of Kickstart participants’ employment records, time on benefits, and earnings after their placements have finished, compared with the equivalent outcomes for similar groups of people who did not participate in the scheme. This should allow the Department to test the assumptions it made in the scheme’s business case about Kickstart’s impact on individual participants. The second element is a ‘process evaluation’ including a commissioned survey of participants, employers, and gateways.43 The Department expects this survey to ask employers about the extent to which the jobs they provided through the scheme were additional to what they would they would have provided anyway, in the absence of scheme funding.44 Beyond this, however, the Department is not planning to carry out a robust evaluation of the additionality of the jobs created under the scheme, or their wider economic impact. It believes that this would not in practice be possible: such an evaluation would require the comparison of employers in the scheme with a comparator group of employers which did not participate, but the Department considers it would be hard to identify such a comparator group, since the scheme operated so widely with employers across the nation.45
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Government response AI summary
The government aims to publish process evaluation findings in Spring 2023, and will continue to evaluate longer-term outcomes for Kickstart participants and use findings to improve current and future employment support.
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HM Treasury
15
Conclusion
Thirty-Ninth Report - DWP Employment Su…
Accepted
The National Audit Office reported that the Department does not know how effectively Kickstart has been targeted at those most likely to benefit, and it has previously found that the Department cannot readily assess how consistently work coaches apply discretion, or whether it is providing a consistent service over time, …
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The National Audit Office reported that the Department does not know how effectively Kickstart has been targeted at those most likely to benefit, and it has previously found that the Department cannot readily assess how consistently work coaches apply discretion, or whether it is providing a consistent service over time, or between jobcentres.59 We asked the Department how much it knew about whether the people helped by Kickstart were those at risk of long-term unemployment, and the Department said that it was relying to a large extent on work coach discretion.60 In September 2021, we recommended that the Department undertake and publish a full evaluation of how well work coaches provide employment support and how consistently they apply their judgement.61 The National Audit Office also reported that the Department’s inability to conduct face-to- face interviews during lockdowns meant that in many cases work coaches made block referrals of claimants to employers, without discussing the suitability of the vacancies with the individual.62 The Department acknowledged that it was more difficult to get the right young people to engage with Kickstart when there was no face to face contact with claimants.63
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Government response AI summary
The government disagrees with the committee's assertion that they have no way of knowing if work coaches are referring the right young people to employers, stating that they use Management Information to frame and refresh work coach guidance, and the Quality Assurance Framework assesses appropriate …
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HM Treasury
17
Recommendation
Thirty-Ninth Report - DWP Employment Su…
Accepted
The Department requires employers to provide employability support to Kickstart participants alongside their jobs, an approach it hopes will make participants more employable in the future. The Department gives employers £1,500 per participant to cover the costs of providing this employability support, along with other relevant set-up costs. The Department …
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The Department requires employers to provide employability support to Kickstart participants alongside their jobs, an approach it hopes will make participants more employable in the future. The Department gives employers £1,500 per participant to cover the costs of providing this employability support, along with other relevant set-up costs. The Department does not specify the employability support employers should provide, but described it as “a kind of wrap-around support in helping the young person, as well as having the placement, to gain additional skills as part of that placement” and that the types of support provided can be different but have to be of high quality.69 The Department told us that it considers what employers’ say about the employment support they plan to offer, when it assesses their applications to create Kickstart jobs.70 The National Audit Office also reported that 70% of Kickstart jobs filled had been offered through third-party Gateways; and the Department acknowledged that it had no visibility of how Gateways were distributing the £1,500 payments for employability support, or how Gateways were applying checks on employability support.71 When we put it to the Department that Gateways could have been empowered to withhold the £1,500 payment until they knew employers were providing a good level of employment support, the Department said this was an interesting point and a question “to learn from”.72 It is also unclear whether the Department is able to claw back employability support funding where this has been used inappropriately, though the Permanent Secretary said that he was not aware of any situations where money had been clawed back.73
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Government response AI summary
The government will evaluate employability support delivered through the Kickstart scheme, potentially increasing checks and communications with employers, and is considering options for recovering misspent funds.
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HM Treasury
19
Conclusion
Thirty-Ninth Report - DWP Employment Su…
Accepted
The Department does record some data on the more serious issues it has become aware of, including cases where health and safety concerns had been raised by participants or account managers, and instances where young people were working in Kickstart jobs but were not being paid. The Department told us …
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The Department does record some data on the more serious issues it has become aware of, including cases where health and safety concerns had been raised by participants or account managers, and instances where young people were working in Kickstart jobs but were not being paid. The Department told us that these ‘complex cases’ in which it had to address issues with an employer had affected 1,657 Kickstart participants. Of these 1,657 participants, the Department said that 500 were able to finish their Kickstart job while the remaining 1,157 Kickstart jobs were withdrawn and the participants were provided with alternative support.78 The Department also gave examples of Kickstart jobs that were going well, including one example of a young person who had taken up a care assistant role, which had boosted their confidence and prospects for competing in the open labour market after their placement.79
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Government response AI summary
The government agrees with the committee's observation on recording serious issues, committing to an evaluation of employer compliance through surveys, which may lead to enhanced communications or operational checks. It is also considering options for sample checks on employers and for the recovery of misspent …
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HM Treasury
20
Conclusion
Thirty-Ninth Report - DWP Employment Su…
Accepted
The Prince’s Trust and Catch22 are both charities that have acted as Gateways for Kickstart jobs. Catch22 describes itself as “a big supporter of Kickstart”, but told us that the quality of placements varies and said that there should be stronger minimum standards and expectations for Gateways.80 The Prince’s Trust …
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The Prince’s Trust and Catch22 are both charities that have acted as Gateways for Kickstart jobs. Catch22 describes itself as “a big supporter of Kickstart”, but told us that the quality of placements varies and said that there should be stronger minimum standards and expectations for Gateways.80 The Prince’s Trust stressed the importance of employability support, saying that the feedback it has received was that that the money for employability support is crucial to re-engage young people furthest from the labour market.81 Finding the best mix of interventions for different claimants
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Government response AI summary
The government will cover the delivery of employability support using employer and gateway surveys. They are considering sample checks on employers and options for recovery of misspent funds.
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HM Treasury
21
Conclusion
Thirty-Ninth Report - DWP Employment Su…
Accepted
The Department said that Kickstart is “in many ways a flagship” scheme. However, it operates alongside a range of other types of support that the department provides.82 The Association for Convenience Stores told us that the large range of support schemes can mean that some smaller employers are hesitant to …
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The Department said that Kickstart is “in many ways a flagship” scheme. However, it operates alongside a range of other types of support that the department provides.82 The Association for Convenience Stores told us that the large range of support schemes can mean that some smaller employers are hesitant to engage, as they have to consider the suitability of their business and the costs and benefits of Kickstart, apprenticeships, and other schemes they might get involved with.83 The Department told us that it had worked with the Department for Education to ensure that employers could still get incentives 75 Q27. 76 Q82; C&AG’s Report, paragraph 21. 77 Q80, C&AG’s Report, paragraph 3.24. 78 Qq78, 97. 79 Q32. 80 Ev x Catch-22. 81 Ev x Prince’s Trust. 82 Q2. 83 Association for Convenience Stores. DWP Employment Support: Kickstart Scheme 17 to take on Kickstart participants as apprentices after Kickstart, although it was not able to provide a clear answer as to how the Department, or the Department for Education, ensures that businesses know about this option when a Kickstart job placement ends.84
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Government response AI summary
The government states that work coach discretion is fundamental, outlining the Youth Offer, support during Kickstart jobs, the Way to Work campaign, and comprehensive guidance for DWP colleagues.
Read full response →
HM Treasury
22
Conclusion
Thirty-Ninth Report - DWP Employment Su…
Accepted
The Department told us that its youth employability work coaches and youth hubs bring together provision and services together to create a ‘journey’ for individuals, by referring people to Kickstart jobs and other schemes from the Department, and signposting people to other support which is available in the area.85 Additionally, …
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The Department told us that its youth employability work coaches and youth hubs bring together provision and services together to create a ‘journey’ for individuals, by referring people to Kickstart jobs and other schemes from the Department, and signposting people to other support which is available in the area.85 Additionally, the Department spoke about Sector Based Work Academies, where it works with local further education colleges or training providers to offer training, work experience and a guaranteed interview. The Department also reiterated though, that developing a package of support relies on the discretion and judgment of individual work coaches, based on their understanding of claimants’ needs.86 The Co-op Group said that there should be personalised, holistic support for young people who have had 6 months or more out of education, employment or training, and for those most at risk of long-term unemployment. The Co-op Group also suggested that there should be a government-wide ‘Young Person’s Strategy’ focused on education, training and employment, influenced by young people and that there should be continued engagement with employers to help deliver a “joined-up approach to the various initiatives such as Kickstart and others that form the Plan for Jobs”.87 84 Qq29–30. 85 Qq29, 32, 35. 86 Q35. 87 Co-op. 18 DWP Employment Support: Kickstart Scheme
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Government response AI summary
The government states that work coach discretion is fundamental, outlining the Youth Offer, support during Kickstart jobs, the Way to Work campaign, and comprehensive guidance for DWP colleagues.
Read full response →
HM Treasury