Last year Weston College announced that they were going to be supporting employers and local young people through the Kickstart scheme, and 16 months later 100 people have passed through the programme.

The Kickstart scheme launched in September 2020, to support young people whose employment prospects were adversely affected by the pandemic.

The scheme provided a 6-month placement for people aged 16-24, who received Universal Credit and were at risk of long-term unemployment.

Dr Paul Phillips CBE, Principal and Chief Executive of Weston College, said: “Kickstart has been the perfect opportunity for us to live out our ethos, of creating brighter futures.

“There were many people that were sadly left without job opportunities during the pandemic, but this scheme has allowed us to match these talented young people, with employers that were in need of additional skills and in some cases an extra pair of hands.

“Reaching the 100 mark is something that we can all be proud of, and I am delighted to see the positive impact that this has had.”

Local recruitment firm, Abatec, recruited three people in a real range of roles through the scheme; with opportunities in administration, finance and sales.

Richard Buchanan, Managing Director of Abatec Recruitment, said: “Kickstart has offered an excellent opportunity for our business to offer meaningful work placements to people affected by the pandemic, whilst also receiving extra resource from three young people that were eager to get an opportunity.

“We gave our placements the chance to showcase their talents in a fast-paced business setting and we were so impressed with one of our placements, that we have actually employed her full time on completion of her 6-month placement.

“We are also really grateful for the support from Weston College throughout the whole process. It is fair to say we needed our hand holding at the beginning of the process, and Weston College did this and guided us through the process of hiring, training, and paying our kick starters.”