Businesses looking to expand or rebuild their workforce should take full advantage of the Kickstart and Apprenticeship Schemes to fund the recruitment and cost of hiring new staff.
Kickstart Scheme
Launched last year, the Government’s Kickstart Scheme has undergone a significant change, meaning that a business no longer needs a minimum of 30 job placements to apply directly for a grant and can submit a claim for funding even if it is creating a single new position.
This has opened the door to businesses of all sizes to apply for this vital funding, which is designed to support the creation of new job placements for 16 to 24-year-olds on Universal Credit, who are at risk of long-term unemployment.
The scheme covers:
- 100 per cent of a worker’s National Minimum or Living Wage (depending on the age of the applicant) for 25 hours per week for a total of six months
- The associated employer National Insurance contributions
- An employer’s minimum automatic enrolment contributions.
The job placement created must not replace existing or planned vacancies or cause existing employees, apprentices or contractors to lose work or reduce their working hours.
To complete an application, employers will need:
- A Companies House reference number or Charity Commission number
- The organisation’s address and contact details
- Details of the job placements and their location.
Employers can spread the start date of the job placements up until the end of December 2021. It is important that businesses make full use of this scheme before it closes later this year.
Apprenticeship Scheme
Businesses can also take on new apprentices via the new Apprenticeship Scheme, which promises to provide a payment for each new apprentice hired as an employee until 30 September.
Employers of all sizes in England can now apply for up to £3,000 of funding to hire and train new apprentices.
It is up to employers how they invest the cash, but the guidance recommends that it covers uniforms, professional training or travel costs for the apprentice.
The latest funding is part of a national drive to boost skills and reduce youth unemployment across the country post-pandemic.
To be eligible, the traineeships must last between six weeks and 12 months and offer young people training and work placements that boost employability.
The new funding is offered alongside the existing £1,000 employers already receive for hiring an apprentice:
- aged 16 to 18 years old
- under 25 with an education, health and care plan or who has been in the care of their local authority
Further details of the Government’s current apprenticeship schemes and funding can be found here.
If you require advice or support with the Kickstart or Apprenticeship Schemes, please contact your Seymour Taylor representative today or email enquiries@stca.co.uk or call 01494 552100.
This blog is for guidance only, professional advice should be obtained before acting on any information contained herein. The information was correct at the time of publishing 3 August 2021.