Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, if she will relaunch the Kickstart scheme.

There are currently no plans to relaunch The Kickstart Scheme.

The Kickstart Scheme was a time-limited response to the effects of the pandemic economic downturn on young people. The scheme came to an end in September 2022 with over 163,000 Kickstart jobs started by young people since its launch.

There continue to be a range of initiatives businesses can get involved in to give opportunities and experience to young people, including apprenticeships, mentoring circles, and work experience. Our Strategic Relationships Team continuously work to connect DWP with employers and partners to strengthen working relationships and to build new opportunities to support young people back to work. This will be strengthened with the introduction of the Youth Guarantee which was announced in The Get Britain Working White Paper.

The Youth Guarantee is for all 18-21 year olds to ensure that they can access quality training opportunities, an apprenticeship or help to find work to reduce the number of young people not earning or learning.

Learning from the evaluation of the Kickstart scheme is also being utilised in the design of other employment support.