Question to the Department for Work and Pensions:

To ask the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions, how many people who were part of the Kickstart scheme have (a) remained employed since the start of that scheme and (b) have lost their job at (i) any time or (ii) at the end of that scheme, to date.

As of 10th January 2022, over 122,000 Kickstart jobs have been started by young people.

The Department for Work and Pensions will be monitoring and evaluating the Kickstart scheme throughout its implementation and will continue to evaluate the longer-term outcomes for Kickstart participants after they have completed their six-month job placements. This will include an estimate of the young people that remained employed following the conclusion of the six-month Kickstart job (either with their Kickstart employer or moving into a job with a different employer), as well as the number of young people no longer in employment upon leaving a Kickstart role. We will publish the findings of the evaluation once complete.

Although care is taken when processing and analysing Kickstart applications, referrals and starts, the data collected might be subject to the inaccuracies inherent in any large-scale recording system, which has been developed quickly. The management information presented here has not been subjected to the usual standard of quality assurance associated with official statistics but is provided in the interests of transparency. Work is ongoing to improve the quality of information available for the programme.