Rishi Sunak Unveils 'Kickstart Jobs Scheme' for Young People Amidst Coronavirus Crisis

As part of the Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s response to the Coronavirus crisis, he has announced a £2billion ‘kickstart’ scheme designed to create jobs for young people.

The scheme is part of an emergency package to prevent mass unemployment across the country as COVID-19 begins to hit the UK economy. 

As it stands, between the start of lockdown in March and through til May, the number of people aged 24 and under who are claiming Universal Credit rose by 250,000 to almost 500,000. 

In order to address this, Sunak’s ‘kickstart’ scheme will subsidise six-month work placements for people between the ages of 16 and 24 who are currently at risk of long-term unemployment.

Chancellor Sunak has stated that his ‘kickstart’ plan was designed to protect as many jobs as possible and tos support the further opening-up of the economy, aimed to prevent an entire generation from being ‘left behind’ in the wake of the Coronavirus. 

The Confederation of British Industry (CBI) has praised the scheme as a ‘much-needed down payment in young people’s futures’, and unions have agreed that it’s a ‘good first step’ in the battle against youth unemployment post COVID-19.

The government has declared that the ‘kickstarter’ scheme will provide young people with the opportunity to develop their skills within a workplace environment and to gain invaluable experience that should improve their chances of securing sustainable long-term work in the future. 

For each "kickstarter" job, the government will cover the cost of 25 hours' work a week at the National Minimum Wage - £4.55 for under 18s, £6.45 for 18 to 20-year-olds, and £8.20 for 21 to 24-year-olds, with employers offered the opportunity to top up this payment if they so wish. 

The scheme opens for applications in August, with the first ‘kickstart’ jobs expected to start in the autumn, running right through until December 2021 - with the option of being further extended then too. 

Rishi Sunak’s scheme covers England, Scotland and Wales, and the government has said it will provide additional funding to Northern Ireland to launch a similar scheme too. 

The director-general of the CBI, Dame Carolyn Fairbairn, said the announcement could see the government "lessening the potential scarring impact of the pandemic for the next generation".

But she said businesses and the government needed to "work to deliver the kickstarter scheme simply and at speed", adding: "There can be no time lost in preparing young people who are entering one of the toughest jobs markets we've seen in decades."