Supporting young people with Greater Manchester’s first Real Living Wage Scheme.
The scheme will create job placements for 16–24 year olds in Greater Manchester, who are currently on Universal Credit or are at risk of long term unemployment.
“We are delighted to be working in partnership with a number of Greater Manchester organisations to deliver this vital employment opportunity. We are especially proud that this one of the first Greater Manchester Real Living Wage schemes, as we and our partners strongly believe that young people in our region deserve a real living wage”. — Rachel Howley, Director, Citizens Advice Greater Manchester
We have been working in partnership with a number of Greater Manchester organisations both within the Citizens advice and local charities to deliver this Government Funded employment opportunity.
With six months work experience offered to the young people paying them the national wage. We are especially proud that we and our partners have offered our trainees across Greater Manchester the ‘Real Living Wage’. That has meant that we have topped up their wage giving them £9.50 per hour as set out by the ‘Real Living Wage’.
We and our partners strongly believe that young people in our region deserve the best start in their working life and a fair wage.
Amid an uncertain labour market following the emergence of COVID-19 and the effects the global pandemic has created in the last few years, targeted programmes such as Kickstart have been dedicated to providing much-needed employment support for young people.
In total, there have been over 2000 vacancies created countrywide for young people specifically for the Kickstart programme.
We in Greater Manchester Citizens Advice and our partners have gone the extra mile and ensured that the vacancies we offered have been top quality with a high level of support ensuring that the trainees will leave with enhanced CV’s and skills.
Employability supports improving employment prospects.
In addition to the work experience offered, the young people have been offered employability support.
This has been delivered by a Business Development Coordinator specifically employed for the role. Our BDC Yvonne Miller joined the team and has an extensive background in support, mentoring, careers advice and business. The support has been delivered focussing on soft skills training along with careers and employment support. This has given valuable employment skills required to have a successful and secure future.
“In these times there is a big emphasis from employers around soft skills, the young people have worked through a long list of soft skills which will enhance their CV’s. I have teamed up with some providers that offer certification which will also be a great enhancement to their Cv’s. Our young people have had regular support sessions along with open access to me for any additional support they may need. It’s my intention that all our young people either get kept on, or have jobs to move into once their time on Kickstart is complete.” Yvonne Miller, BDC, Citizens Advice Greater Manchester.
Employment support transforms the lives of individuals.
We have been proud to be part of the Kickstart scheme and actively supporting young people in our region. Knowing that we have made a positive impact on our trainees gives us all great satisfaction.
We support ERSA’s ( Employment Related Services Association) goal of working towards helping people secure good quality, sustainable employment and a better future, for themselves and their local communities. We know that the Kickstart scheme has made a positive impact on our young people as well as it being a positive experience for us the employers too.
Employment support has a positive impact on local communities.
By working together with a network of partners across Greater Manchester, our goal is to give valuable employment opportunities to young people, one of the only schemes to provide a real living wage, investing money and skills into our local communities.
