Work placements have been created across the Chatsworth Estate under the Government’s new Kickstart Scheme set up to help young people at risk of long-term unemployment.
The Kickstart Scheme provides funding to employers to create new jobs for young people aged 16 to 24 who are receiving Universal Credit. To support the national ‘Plan for Jobs’ scheme launched by the Department of Work and Pensions, employers must create new high quality employment opportunities that would otherwise not be available. These can either be entirely new roles or existing roles but additional to the employer’s normal workforce.
The Devonshire Group, which comprises Chatsworth, Bolton Abbey and the wider estate operations has created a range of exciting six-month placements including: gardeners, farmyard and adventure playground assistants, drystone waller, collections assistant and commis chef.
Devonshire Group Engagement and Development Co-ordinator, Nathan Fairhead said: “We are proud to be supporting the Kickstart scheme to provide young people in our communities the opportunity to gain valuable work experience. We are eager to do what we can to help young people through the extremely challenging context that the Covid-19 pandemic has created for jobseekers. We’re looking forward to welcoming our first Kickstart colleagues to these new roles and equipping them for their future careers.
“We have identified a variety of exciting opportunities across the Devonshire Group and our management team have been keen to support the scheme. Some will be roles that are the same or similar to roles already in place but will be additional to existing numbers. Other posts are entirely new such as placements in Sustainability, Retail Efficiency Support and Forestry.”
All the candidates will be closely supported by their department managers to ensure they receive relevant ‘on the job’ training and paired with a ‘buddy’ for personal one-to-one support. They will also be offered employability skills training to be delivered remotely by Buxton and Leek College working in partnership with the Devonshire Group.
Many of the 33 placements are already live with several more across the Devonshire Hotels and Restaurants Group in Derbyshire and Yorkshire due to be posted shortly.
Candidates can apply for live placements via Job Centre Plus, who will then pass the application to the employer.
For more information, go to https://kickstart.campaign.gov.uk/ or speak to a Job Centre Plus work coach.
