A report has found that Rishi Sunkak’s Kickstart scheme is not delivering value for money.
The scheme, which gets young people who are on universal credit into placements for 16- to 24-year-olds, has found to be flawed by the National Audit Office (NAO).
“At the start of the pandemic, DWP acted quickly to set up Kickstart to help young people into work when youth unemployment was predicted to rise significantly,” said Gareth Davies, the head of the NAO.
“However, DWP has limited assurance that Kickstart is having the positive impact intended. It does not know whether the jobs created are of high quality or whether they would have existed without the scheme.”
“It could also do more to ensure the scheme is targeted at those who need it the most.”
Frances O’Grady, general secretary of the TUC, commented and said that the scheme still had an important part to play. She said: “The government should now work more closely with unions on the next phase so that we can give young workers a voice in improving the scheme.”