Recommendation 16

The Department conducted its first analysis of Kickstart participants’ ethnicity in August 2021, 11 months after Kickstart had launched, and found that a slightly greater proportion of Kickstart participants were from a Black or ethnic minority group than 55 C&AG’s Report, paragraph 16. 56 C&AG’s Report, paragraph 1.9. 57 Qq12, 87. 58 Q2. 59 C&AG’s Report, paragraph 16; C&AG’s Report, Supporting disabled people to work, Session 2017–19, HC 1991, 28 March 2019, paragraph 3.15. 60 Q55. 61 Committee of Public Accounts, DWP Employment support, Fifteenth Report of Session 2021–22, HC 177, 8 September 2021. 62 C&AG’s Report, paragraph 3.8. 63 Qq6, 19. DWP Employment Support: Kickstart Scheme 15 the wider cohort of 16- to 24-year-olds claiming Universal Credit and seeking work.64 The Department made use of ethnicity data from the Longitudinal Education Outcomes data (the National Pupil Dataset) for this analysis, because its own Universal Credit data are still not complete enough to generate meaningful analysis.65 The Department also conducted research on the first 20,000 Kickstart participants, and found that those with higher levels of education were more likely to be referred to Kickstart jobs, and also more likely to be appointed to the job once referred.66 Although the Department advertised through ethnic radio stations and contextually-targeted digital advertising, and told us that it is working with Gateways that can target and support people from black and ethnic-minority backgrounds and other disadvantaged groups, it has not sought to use the scheme to tackle inequalities in the labour market.67 The Department told us that it wants Kickstart to be “available for everyone we feel is at risk of scarring, and that comes down to the discretion of work coaches”.68 Assuring the quality of Kickstart jobs and employability training