Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, what assessment she has made of the potential merits of extending the Kickstart scheme to allow smaller businesses to take on fewer than 30 new workers under the scheme.

Companies looking to recruit fewer than 30 Kickstart applicants are still able to benefit from Kickstart by bidding for placements via an intermediary organisation. Intermediaries can gather employers keen to offer Kickstart jobs to make a collective bid of 30 or more vacancies. Smaller employers will have support from the intermediary to create high quality roles and additional support so that young people get the most out of their placement. This also reduces the administrative burden falling on the small employer. The department has received significant interest from a wide range of bodies including local authorities, charities and trade/industry bodies looking to become intermediaries.