February 2018 saw the launch of Walpole's Schools Programme in association with Careers & Enterprise: a programme that links over 2,000 schools and colleges with local employees, with the aim to inspire and prepare young people for the fast-changing world of work. While we have been unable to work with our link school - the Chelsea Academy - since March, we support the government's new Kickstart scheme, which will create hundreds of thousands of new fully-subsidised roles for young people as part of efforts to ensure a future of opportunity and hope for those starting out in their career.
The Government will fully fund each Kickstart placement - paying 100% of the age-relevant National Minimum Wage, National Insurance and pension contributions for 25 hours a week. The jobs will give young people – who are more likely to have been furloughed, with many working in sectors disproportionately hit by the pandemic - the opportunity to build their skills in the workplace and to gain experience to improve their chances of finding long-term work.
Kickstart is only available to companies offering 30 placements under the scheme, however SME's can get involved by using an intermediary organisation such as Walpole partner V&C Associates to create individual placements. V&C will be your point of contact and collaborate on the individual suitable for your organisation, will be involved in all payments to the candidate, CV Submissions, Mentoring candidates and preparing them for their next opportunity.
