The Department for Work & Pensions (the Department) launched the Kickstart Scheme (Kickstart) in September 2020 in response to a significant forecast rise in youth unemployment as a result of the COVID-19 pandemic. As initially announced, Kickstart aims to “create hundreds of thousands of high-quality six-month work placements aimed at those aged 16–24 who are on Universal Credit and are deemed to be at risk of long-term unemployment.”
