Source · Select Committees · Public Accounts Committee
Recommendation 8
8
Another factor in the reduced take up of the scheme has been the length of...
Conclusion
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
Government Response
Not Addressed
HM Government
Not Addressed
2.1 The government agrees with the Committee’s recommendation. Recommendation implemented 2.2 The department disagrees with the assertion of the Committee 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. The department expects the number of starts to increase further as employers report the commencement of employment. Kickstart District Account Managers actively engaged many employers and gateway organisations, that help employers get funding to create Kickstart jobs, by supporting them from the application process through to filling approved vacancies. The department has introduced creative and innovative ways to directly engage with employers such as: bespoke employer events, job fairs and attendance in Jobcentres to directly recruit young people and matching young people to jobs on the same day they are referred to the scheme. This approach has proved successful in attracting new employers to the scheme, increasing the range of Kickstart job opportunities and increasing the numbers of participating young people. 2.3 The department has also provided advice to employers from making their job adverts both compliant with Kickstart Scheme criteria to managing their expectations on the likely skills set and experience that most eligible young people would have acquired prior to participation. 2.4 The department also enhanced the functionality on the Find a Job service to both advertise all available Kickstart roles and introduce a self-serve option which allowed customers to match their skills and experience against their preferred jobs. As of January 2022, figures show that, since the scheme’s inception in November 2020, an average of 2,051 young people started a Kickstart job each week. In the final quarter of 2021-22 the average job starts have been over 3,000 a week.