LR Peterlee Town Council Autumn 2021 - Flipbook - Page 18
Local Interest
Geng our Kicks from helping
young people into employment!
Ian Morris, Chief Ocer and Town
Clerk at Peterlee Town Council, tells us
about how the Town Council has
bene$!ed from taking on 9 new young
sta& through the Government’s
KickStart youth employment scheme.
At the end of June 2021 I had the
pleasure of informing our Councillors
that we’d just conIrmed with the
Department of Work and Pensions
(DWP) and our KickStart scheme
administrators that we’d taken on
another two local young people to be
trainee gardeners through the
Government’s KickStart scheme. This
brought the total number of KickStart
trainees working with us up to nine.
The Government’s Kickstart Scheme
provides funding to employers to create
jobs for 16 to 24 year olds on Universal
Credit and at risk of long term
unemployment. Employers of all sizes
can apply for funding which covers:
• 100% of the NaTonal Minimum Wage
(or the NaTonal Living Wage
depending on the age of the
parTcipant) for 25 hours per week for
a total of 6 months
• associated employer NaTonal
Insurance contribuTons
• minimum automaTc enrolment
pension contribuTons
• Uniforms, PPE and other
employmentHrelated costs
Employers can spread the job start
dates up unTl 31 December 2021 and
can receive funding unTl 30 June 2022 if
a young person starts their job on 31
December 2021. Further funding is
available for training and support so
that young people on the scheme can
get a job in the future.
In January 2021 the Town Council
appointed Groundwork North East &
Cumbria (GNEC) as our KickStart
Gateway partners and the work began
on geng our Irst cohort of young
people appointed.
18 Peterlee
We used the government’s standard
forms to produce a job descripTon for
these trainee HorTcultural Assistant
roles. GNEC helped us to shape this
based on their experience of working in
the KickStart scheme with other
employers, and they sorted out the
registraTon of our scheme with DWP.
This admin process took a good couple
of months, and in midHApril 2021 we
Inally received conIrmaTon from DWP
that our scheme was approved and we
kickedHo6 the recruitment process, via
the local Job Centres and Job Coaches.
We interviewed for the Irst tranche of
KickStart placements in midHMay 2021,
