Business West and TechSPARK are working together to encourage businesses to participate in the new Kickstart employment scheme helping create jobs in the region’s tech community.
Business West is the Chamber of Commerce covering Bristol, Bath, Gloucestershire and Wiltshire. TechSPARK, the not-for-profit tech and digital support network for the region’s digi-tech clusters.
Under the Kickstart scheme, businesses that are able to provide 6 months employment for under-25s will be fully funded for 25 hours a week at national minimum wage, as well as national insurance and pension contributions for each Kickstart placement they take on.
Employers looking to create fewer than 30 placements need to apply via an intermediary such as Business West.
They’re partnering with TechSPARK to enable fast-growing businesses within the digital and tech sectors to be able to create placements to participate in the scheme and create meaningful opportunities for local young people in our region.
Bristol has a long-standing history of tech innovation and the ecosystem is booming, with the most productive tech talent in the UK. It feeds industries all over the world with breakthrough engineering and digital innovation. The region is famed for its creative approach to technology challenges, and was recently named as the best city for startups in the UK outside of London.
Nicky Williams, Head of Skills at Business West, comments: “Business West, as part of the British Chambers network is working with TechSPARK and the Department for Work and Pensions to pull together quality placements on behalf of dynamic creative and tech sector businesses in our region who want to participate in the scheme.
Whatever your size of business we can help you to access this programme via offering our capacity to help employers access funding to bring young people into the workplace and develop new talent for the future.”
Ben Shorrock of TechSPARK adds: “This scheme could be brilliant for the tech industry in the West of England. It will help local tech businesses continue to grow while offering opportunities for young people from backgrounds that may have never considered a career within tech an option.
We’re delighted to be working with Business West to support and promote this scheme for our community”
If you’d like to be involved in the programme please fill out the below expression of interest form and we’ll be in touch in the coming days.
