Recommendation 10

In September 2021, the number of young (16- to 24-year-old) unemployed people claiming Universal Credit and searching for work for more than one year was approximately 144,000, three times the pre-pandemic number of 48,800 in February 2020.38 In the same month there were 186,000 Kickstart vacancies.39 Since April 2020, the number of young unemployed people claiming Universal Credit for any length of time has not dropped below 200,000.40 The Department was confident that Kickstart had reduced the scale of increase in long-term youth unemployment compared to a scenario in which the scheme had not existed.41 Clearly, however, there have been sufficient Kickstart vacancies for the scheme to have made a greater contribution to reducing youth unemployment, had vacancies been filled faster. Evaluating Kickstart’s performance