Baltic Creative Community Interest Company (CIC) has partnered with local social enterprise, Transform Lives Company (TLC) to create job opportunities for unemployed young people within the Liverpool City Region through the government’s Kickstart Scheme.
Baltic Creative and TLC are seeking organisations within the creative and digital sector that could offer new roles within their businesses to 16 to 24 year olds currently on universal credit.
TLC will then act as a gateway, accessing the government funding on behalf of the applicant business. Further funding is also available for additional training and support so that young people on the scheme achieve an enhanced experience and therefore stronger job prospects for the future.
Funding for the initiative covers 100% of the national minimum wage, or the national living wage, depending on the age of the participant, for 25 hours per week for a total of six months, as well as
associated employer National Insurance contributions, allowing companies to benefit from additional human resource and provide value work experience, at no financial cost.
Commenting on the new partnership, MD of Baltic Creative, Mark Lawler, said: “Prior to the Covid-19 outbreak, the creative and digital sector was the fastest growing sector within the Liverpool City Region and although it has been impacted by recent events, it remains resilient.
“The career paths available within the sector are incredibly diverse and we hope to work with a broad range of businesses through the Kickstart Scheme, so that the young people of Liverpool can benefit from some interesting job and training opportunities.
“During these difficult times, it is more important than ever to enable those who may otherwise struggle taking that first step to get onto the career ladder and we think there is no better place to do that than with a creative or digital business operating in our city region.”
MD of Transform Lives Company, Tracy Fishwick OBE, said: “Kickstart provides much needed financial support to help create additional jobs at a time that is going to be tough for some. We know that young people are already hardest hit by job losses, many more who are furloughed will be worried, as well as those who were unemployed before Covid-19, and those who will soon be leaving education. If we can, we all need to do our bit.
“We also know that it’s the smaller businesses that often want to help the most but find the whole process daunting and time consuming as sometimes they don’t know where to begin. We’re here to help every step of the way and we’re delighted to be working alongside the Baltic Creative community to offer hope to young people and hopefully find new talent for those companies”
“We are both socially trading organisations, so it was a natural fit for us to partner on this exciting opportunity and create something positive for businesses and young people alike.”
TLC is an expert in running employment and wellbeing programmes and will support young people and employers throughout the Kickstart programme.
Baltic Creative and TLC will be hosting a number of informal webinars for businesses looking to find out more about the Kickstart Scheme and how they can apply for funding to create a job opportunity for a young person at their company.
The first events will be held on 28th October and 11th November from 10am – 11am. To sign up for the information events visit: www.baltickickstart.eventbrite.co.uk
Young people who are interested in taking part in the scheme should keep in touch with their local Job Centre and follow Baltic Creative and TLC’s Twitter accounts for the latest updates.