Less than a month remains for employers to register interest to hire a government-funded employee

1 Oct 2021

The British Racing School (BRS), supported by the Racing Foundation and the Resume Foundation, launched racing’s approach to the government-funded Kickstart scheme in July. 

The deadline has been extended to December 17th 2021, and as such employers are being encouraged to register their interest to hire a Kickstart employee by October 31st.

The Kickstart Scheme helps horseracing businesses and charities to employ young people for free for six months, provided they are aged 16 to 24 years-old and claiming universal credit. The funding covers 100% of the National Minimum Wage for 25 hours per week for a total of six months plus £1,500 per employee to support set up costs.

The BRS has developed a programme of support for employers interested in offering employment to a Kickstart candidate. The programme will help employers to access both the scheme and funding of up to £7,500 per candidate. The Kickstarters will receive training that will focus on introducing them to the racing industry and support their future employment.

There are currently 50,000 Kickstarters in employment across the UK in a variety of sports and industries. Among others, the English Football League Trust (EFL) and Compass Group have taken a coordinated approach to the scheme.

The Racing Foundation are pleased to be supporting the project. Rob Hezel, Chief Executive Officer of the Racing Foundation, said: “By coordinating racing’s approach to the Government’s Kickstart Scheme, the Racing Foundation is delivering on its purpose to be a catalyst for improvement in the industry.

“Our aim is to support individual Kickstarters to gain work in our brilliant industry while offering employers additional resources. This comes at a time when racing, along with the rest of the country, opens up and becomes busier than ever after the uncertainty of the last 18 months.

“Streamlining the process to get a Kickstarter into their workforce will hopefully incentivise racing employers across the country to take advantage of this great opportunity.” 

A guide to the scheme can be found here with further information available at https://brs.org.uk/kickstart/ or by emailing [email protected]. 

It is recommended that interest is registered with Pip by end-October 2021 in order to take advantage of the funding and scheme benefits.