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The Kickstart Scheme has been extended to March 2022. 

Don’t miss out on your opportunity to benefit from the Chancellor’s £2bn investment.

The PMA has been appointed by the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) as a Gateway provider for the Kickstart scheme UK-wide initiative (excluding Northern Ireland).

DWP is delighted to be working with the PMA across the UK and is providing full support to help us deliver a high-quality programme to young people most in need.

The Kickstart scheme will help ease the increased workload being placed on GP Practices, Dental Practices, Care Homes and the wider NHS during these challenging times. It provides a much-needed, valuable and talent-rich resource to support the additional demands caused by the national COVID-19 vaccination rollout.

The government’s Kickstart Scheme is a £2 billion fund to create hundreds of thousands of high-quality 6-month work placements aimed at those aged 16 to 24 who are on Universal Credit and are deemed to be at risk of long term unemployment.

What are the benefits of Kickstart to you the employer?

  • Fully government funded 6-month work placement
  • Kickstarters who add real value by picking up tasks your current team just doesn’t have time for
  • PMA provides full vetting and shortlisting of suitable applicants
  • You decide which young people to offer Kickstart positions to
  • Kickstarter working 25 hours per week at minimum wage rate, fully reimbursed to you including NI and up to 3% of pension contributions
  • You will also receive an additional £300 grant to cover onboarding, PPE, uniform and other associated costs
  • Full Primary, Health and Social Care aligned training programme provided by PMA tutors & coaches
  • PMA weekly monitoring with Kickstarter and employer to ensure the placement is a success

Kickstart Employee 

The 6-month placement will support the Kickstarter in developing the skills and experience they need to find work after completing the scheme. You will be helping the young person become more employable while they do a fabulous job for you.

End of placement choices

  • Employ the Kickstarter either part-time or full-time
  • Offer the Kickstarter an apprenticeship supported by the PMA meaning you can benefit from more government funding – up to £3000 per apprentice
  • Release the young person with excellent work and employability skills.

How do I apply for Kickstart?

APPLY FOR PMA KICKSTART

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Apply now. Registration takes only a few minutes to complete. It really is that easy! 

PMA Kickstarters rise to the challenge of these most popular roles advertised:

  • Admin Assistant
  • Receptionist
  • Healthcare Assistant
  • Social Media/Marketing Assistant
  • Care Assistant
  • Activity and Entertainment Coordinators

Of course, this list is not exhaustive so simply let us know if you have something else in mind.

Our goal

Our goal is to maximise the opportunity of 6-months employment by ensuring both parties are completely satisfied with the placement. We will focus on the young person, work relationships and gaining of skills, rather than just the employability sessions, as mandated by DWP.

We believe it is better to enhance the skills and experience that will end up on the Kickstarter’s CV rather than simply spend time learning to write one.

APPLY FOR PMA KICKSTART

What is the value of Kickstart to the employer?

See our FAQ section:

Watch a PMA Kickstart Scheme webinar recording – aimed at helping you understand what it is all about.

KICKSTART WEBINAR RECORDING

Imagine how exciting it would be for a young person to be part of this!

Listen below to Stacey Chapman (PMA)
and Russell Arroyo (DWP) discuss KICKSTART

A Kickstart employee can undertake any legitimate job role within the health and social care environment, subject to the appropriate levels of training and supervision. The Kickstart Scheme is designed to enable young people to have real-life work experience and as such, there is no prescriptive list of job roles.

Yes, for sure. We are seeing a great number of PCN’s using one or more Kickstarters to support their workload. The Kickstarter will need to be employed by either one of the practices or, for example, a federation.

Yes, depending on how many employees you have. The Kickstart Scheme works on a 1:3 ratio.

We work with DWP and the Job Coaches based at the Job Centres and they will put candidates forward to the PMA to be interviewed for the vacancies before we provide a short-list of suitable candidates to you.

The Jobcentre Plus has a bank of young people who are now eager to gain employment skills and PMA will draw on these.

Yes, the PMA will prepare a short-list of candidates appropriate for you to interview. The final decision on which candidate(s) to employ, is yours.

No, they are required to work 25 hours and the hours and times would be agreed with you as the employer. The working time rules are in line with government regulations for a person’s age.

It is per placement so you will get £300 per Kickstart employee.

The grant is paid with the first monthly payroll grant.

This is decided by you as the employer. The 25 hours can be spread over the working week and it’s your choice.

The current age range for Kickstart is from 16 to 24 years.

They are employed by you and you will be fully reimbursed by the PMA each month as the Gateway Provider.

The hourly rate is the relevant National Minimum Wage (or the National Living Wage depending on the age of the participant) for 25 hours per week for a total of 6 months.

National Minimum Wage Rates

23 and over  21 to 22  18 to 20  Under 18 
April 2021      £8.91   £8.36   £6.56    £4.62

https://www.gov.uk/national-minimum-wage

The payroll grant is based on the relevant National Minimum Wage/National Living Wage according to the employee’s age at the end of the placement. Employers are reimbursed in 6 equal monthly installments which will cover the payroll for an employee working 25 hours per week for 26 weeks.

NMW/NLW Wage (NMW/NLW x 25 hours x 26 weeks) Employers Pension Contributions Employers National Insurance Contributions Total Payroll Grant 6 Monthly Equal Instalments
16/17     £4.62   £3003.00   £0.00    £0.00  £3003.00    £500.50
18-20      £6.56   £4264.00   £34.32    £0.00  £4298.32    £716.39
21/22      £8.36   £5434.00   £69.42    £143.52  £5646.94    £941.16
23/24      £8.91   £5791.50   £80.15    £192.86   £6064.51    £1010.75

As per your standard employment contract, you will pay sick leave as you would normally for an employee. This will be reimbursed too.

As per your standard employment contract, you will pay holiday entitlement as you would normally for an employee. This will be reimbursed too.

We can address this with you and if we are jointly unable to resolve any issues we would look to replace the Kickstart employee.

There is no obligation for you to keep the person when they complete their 6 months Kickstart, however, we have a number of options and will work with you to determine the most appropriate course of action.

Yes, if you decide to offer them a permanent position this does not have to be via an apprenticeship.

There are no financial implications for you, should the Kickstarter leave before the end of the placement. You’ll be reimbursed for their last monthly salary as usual. And the £300 Grant you received at the start of the placement, is yours to keep.

The government will reimburse you for the 25 hours per week and yes, you can offer the Kickstarter more hours, but this will be paid by you and not by the government.

The organisation would be required to complete the DBS.

As the employer, you will carry out the DBS process and any costs will be drawn by you from the £300 grant you receive at the start of the placement.

The PMA will agree a training plan that will support each individual with mandatory employability skills, along with additional training to include our e-learning programme, Excellence in Supporting Healthcare.

The young person will have a named workplace mentor. In addition, they will receive pastoral support from a member of the PMA team, along with learning support from a qualified PMA tutor.

If, after the 6-month placement, there are no employment opportunities, then the Kickstarter simply leaves your employment. At this stage, we’ll work with the Kickstarter and Jobcentre Plus Work Coaches to help find suitable employment or other opportunities.

The Kickstart Scheme will enable those 16 to 18-year-olds unable to complete their education to benefit from these opportunities.

Once HMRC receives your first RTI (Real Time Information) payroll submission for the employee, they notify the DWP that the placement is live. The DWP then transfer funds to the PMA within 5-10 working days and we then aim to make all payments within 5 days of receiving the funds from the DWP.