Our Kickstart service is open to businesses, charities and community groups of any size or sector. Organisations taking fewer than 30 placements must apply through a Kickstart gateway, such as CRATE and Project Zero WF. We will validate and process your application, provide scheme administration and deliver essential training and support services to participants for the duration of the placement.

Placements run for six-months and require employers to provide basic HR elements of employment contracts and payroll. For employers looking for shorter placements or outsourcing of the HR service, our service offering can accommodate these requirements.

 

Why use Project Zero WF and CRATE for your placement?

We’ve designed our Kickstart service to help bring jobs and funding to local businesses and charitable organisations so they have the best chance of surviving the economic crisis. In the process we will also help build a dynamic local network of like-minded organisations.

Our service offer has flexibility on placement duration and the amount of administration you’re ready to take on, this means if you’re a small business, you can still benefit from the scheme without over committing.

We will support those young people most in need of a ‘kickstart’. In the longer term, we will develop a pool of talent who can make a positive impact on local enterprise.

Our support and training matches the needs of young people and employers as it’s grounded in real-world experience, helping participants avoid a return to benefits once the placement is over. Our comprehensive enterprise and employability skills programme runs fortnightly for the duration of the six months, providing employers and participants with a clear structure similar to apprenticeships. This approach equips young people to be taken on permanently or as an apprentice, with the same employer or elsewhere.

Payment for our training and support draws on just over half of the government’s allocated budget to employers, leaving organisations with substantial funding for on-the-job training.

Our experience

As a Kickstart gateway we will draw on our experience of working with many local businesses and charities over the pandemic, managing partnership agreements with third parties and use established governance processes in place with Waltham Forest council.

CRATE Places UK Ltd and Project Zero WF will be your legal intermediaries with the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and Job Centre Plus (JCP) for all aspects of the placement.

Working with our expert partners, we’ll provide placement support services that provide your organisation with help and support in:

Services

1. Defining a job description that meets the DWP’s objectives for quality placements
2. Ensuring the accuracy of your application with the DWP so it’s successful
3. Facilitating candidate interviews and selection with JCP
4. Administering legal agreements with the DWP
5. Advising on employment contracts
6. Processing grant payments with the DWP (you will receive payments approximately four weeks after the month-end)
7. Providing placement training for general induction and on-boarding in addition to that within your organisation
8. Operating a support programme for local young people on placements
9. Delivering half-day Boost:ed training programme every fortnight throughout the placement, covering topics such as enterprise, employability and resilience-building.
10. Hosting an end of placement event for all participants and businesses.
11. Offering CRATE Boost training to business owners/managers as needed, so organisations get the most out of the placement.

Employment Service (optional) - employment contracts, payroll, accounting and cashflow. This service is required for organisations without established payroll services.

1. Managing employment contracts, monthly salary payments, national insurance payments and auto-pension enrolment on behalf of employers, meaning businesses can solely focus on the management of the placement.
2. Supporting payment cash flow (as grants will be paid to you approximately a month after participants need to be paid).

Shorter Placement Service

If your organisation is interested in a shorter placement of between two and five months, this service can be provided directly by us. Under this option we provide Kickstart participants with an employment service and full training provision. Your organisation provides a shorter placement opportunity outside of the formal DWP Kickstart scheme. Under this option, your organisation does not receive any government funding relating to the placement.

 

Our pricing

Placement Support Services (application, administration support and training) - £800 per placement
Employment Services (HR, employment contracts, payroll and cashflow) - £400 per placement

Our fees are taken from the government provided £1,500 training and support budget. The remaining budget of up to £700 (or £300 if both services above are taken) is paid to the organisation. The legal entity contracting with placement businesses will be CRATE Places UK Ltd and Project Zero WF.

About the scheme
The Kickstart work placement scheme is a six-month paid job with a local business or charity that’s fully funded by the government. It provides a valuable opportunity to gain legitimate work experience in a supportive local company. The scheme was announced by the Chancellor in the summer and expects to offer hundreds of thousands of young people job opportunities over the next few years.

Applying for Kickstart
Jobs from the Kickstart scheme will be open to 16-24 years olds who are claiming Universal Credit. If you’re unemployed and worried about your long-term prospects, talk to your Job Centre Plus work coach about local job opportunities and whether the scheme is right for you.

Employers are signing up for the scheme right now, and we expect to have positions on offer in many different  organisations across Waltham Forest and beyond.

The first jobs will be available from November. You’ll be paid the national minimum wage for a minimum of 25 hours per week (£6.45 per hour for 18-20 year-olds and £8.20 for 21-24 year-olds). Wages and hours might even be topped-up by businesses above this level.

EmployabilityWork placements via the Boost:ed service will benefit from expert training and support every fortnight, developing your enterprise, resilience and employability skills and helping your progression to sustained employment.

Talk to your Job Centre Plus work coach to find out more.