Northallerton charity urges others to support kickstart scheme
Non-profit charity Chopsticks employed two Kickstart employees in the last few months
A Northallerton charity is urging business owners to take advantage of the kickstart scheme - after seeing the mental health of their employees improve.
Set up by the government, Kickstart provides funding to employers to create jobs for 16 to 24 year olds on Universal Credit to get them into steady employment.
Chopsticks in Northallerton, a non-profit charity which works with adults with disabilities to give them opportunities that would otherwise be difficult to find in a workplace, took on two Kickstart employees in the last few months.
Tracey Taylor of the group has seen the mental health of their two new employees improve since they started working at Chopsticks.
She said: "Yes it's great to have another pair of hands in our workshop but the Kickstart guys clearly needed that extra boost of confidence and for someone to tell them they're good at it and they're capable.
"We support them the best way we can and have slowly helped them build their confidence.
"Young people that are passing their exams are fantastic but there are others which don't have that and need extra help to get into the workplace.
"A lot of it is down to confidence and not feeling like they have the skills to progress.
"One of the guys in particular told us that working at Chopsticks has helped his mental health so it shows we're doing the right thing."
The charity was established by a small group of adults with learning disabilities that began working for themselves chopping firewood from scrap timber and selling it to the general public.
The group offer a range of other services and activities for members such as crafts classes, mowing lawns and making gardenware products.
Employers can spread the job start dates up until 31 December 2021 and they will get funding until 30 June 2022 if a young person starts their job on 31 December 2021.
For young people who are eligible for the government’s Kickstart scheme there are jobs available paying a National Minimum wage for 25 hours a week for 26 weeks. The jobs come with a guaranteed investment in the applicant’s future career with the chance of employability training and coaching.