My Lords, I broadly support Amendment 87, although I will probe rather more on what we could get out of Kickstart moving forward and what some of the issues are. I started off as quite an enthusiast for KickStart, but for me it has failed to live up to its promise. However, there is a chance that by reviewing it, it could be made more positive and make a positive contribution to this
Bill. That is why I am keen on the amendment. If the last time I spoke regarding the Bill I worried out loud about the dangers of too short-term an approach to skills and training and too much power being given to employers to define what skills are needed, conversely I now note that sometimes, short-term and immediate issues, from the threat of mass youth unemployment to skills shortages in the here and now, require a degree of urgency and a more central role for employers. Sadly, Kickstart has slightly missed out on this and does neither.
To remind ourselves, the challenges facing young people in the labour market in the here and now have been exacerbated by Covid-19. Policy decisions have effectively closed down whole sectors in which young workers are overrepresented. The highest job losses have been in accommodation and food, wholesale and retail, and arts and entertainment—the three industries with the highest percentage of young people in the workforce. We must recognise that the non-Covid collateral damage of lockdown is indeed young people’s job prospects. In that sense, Kickstart should have been a godsend, but it is rather misnamed. It sounds urgent and dynamic, but the take-up has been sluggish. Despite the promise of a quarter of a million new jobs for the young and claims of 195,000 jobs approved, fewer than 20,000 people have started jobs created by the scheme, and even with scrapping the ludicrous requirement for employers to create 30-plus opportunities, forcing the SMEs into a bureaucratic labyrinth of those gateways, it has not really speeded things up enough.
I would like a review of this because there is still too much red tape. To quote a couple of employers, they are keen to avail themselves of this scheme, but it has been “like pulling teeth” and “extremely frustrating”. They say that the application process is lengthy with a lot of paperwork and an extremely saturated line of communication. I have not given up on Kickstart and I am glad to see, as the noble Lord just mentioned, that the CBI seems to be united with the TUC and a lot of business federations in still seeing Kickstart as useful, but it needs some time. As the amendment argues, I am mystified as to why this scheme would end in December 2021, since it is only just kicking in.
The DWP says that the hiring process will be ramped up as lockdown unwinds, unlocking key sectors, but as unlocking has been constantly delayed, only starting today and even then hesitantly, if the Government close Kickstart in December, they are giving it less than half a year to have any real effect. That is important. The amendment also tries to free up Kickstart and not confine it to those in receipt of universal credit. This is an important point, for a number of reasons. The young, most in need of work and training related to employment progress, are often working, but they might be on zero-hours contracts or picking up part-time work stacking shelves. Therefore, the initiative should not exclude them from Kickstart. We also know from the latest furlough data that the young are more likely to be furloughed. Realistically, when furlough ends, many could be jobless. Why insist on them having a six-month gap on universal credit before letting them access Kickstart for their job prospects?
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There is another problem with the link to universal credit, because it gives far too much power, in my mind, to jobcentres, especially on candidate selection. Employers complain of waiting for up to five months for jobcentres to get adverts out, and a backlog of applications. Every applicant has to be referred by a work coach—one job creation scheme that seems to be exponentially growing—but employers and unemployed youth have on occasion dubbed work coaches “slow coaches” as they slow the whole process down.
I do not understand why, in this instance, employers cannot have more autonomy in the Kickstart hiring process. Could this be part of the review referred to in the amendment? One employer says that if employers could source and vet their own applicants—with jobcentres in the loop, of course, to ensure no foul play—it would be a more efficient system.
Kickstart has also added a perverse clause to the universal credit condition—to qualify, you have to be shown as being at risk of long-term unemployment. I am not sure how that is judged. This broadly reflects the danger we have with the Bill in terms of how we understand helping the young and whether we get a bit moralistic about it. One young graduate desperate to get on to the employment ladder who had applied for Kickstart to improve his job prospects after being unemployed for a time because of Covid explained, “I went to the jobcentre and was told ‘You don’t qualify for this because you are not at risk of long-term unemployment’”. The reason given was because he has a degree, which would indicate that we maybe need to have a conversation about graduates not getting jobs. That person asked, “How would you even objectify that?” It would make me squeamish if the scheme ended up being designed for a type of young person, not a situation—a welfare intervention rather than a genuine bridge or route into high-quality jobs and training.
It also raises a nervousness about what job training comprises. It is always worth interrogating throughout the discussion on this skills Bill what we mean by “skills”. Much of the advice to would-be Kickstart employers is to ensure that the six months make the young person more employable at the end, but then it often recommends a banal list of skills—setting goals, CV construction, prep for interviews, timekeeping et cetera. This is thin gruel, and hardly likely to kick-start a young person’s job chances. Even in six months you can give people a real taste of specific jobs and skills that would also tackle some of the concrete and pressing economic issues that have been thrown up by the pandemic.
One barrier is the stipulation that Kickstart must not replace existing or planned vacancies. I understand the motives—the scheme should not be used cynically to replace existing employees—but this is far too prescriptive and, to be frank, has led to a range of SMEs struggling to come up with made-up new jobs in order to access the scheme. Rather, I hope the Bill, or perhaps the way it focuses our minds on job training more broadly, can kick-start Kickstart and make it fit for purpose with an additional investment boost, for example, in giving people tasters for apprenticeships and workplace training where there are real skills gaps.
Take, for example, the near crisis over the shortage of HGV drivers. There is a 100,000 shortfall, according to the Road Haulage Association. Of course, this is partly caused by Brexit, which I campaigned for, but before remainer glee sets in, successive Governments and corporates had until now responded to such shortages by sometimes poaching foreign workers, which diluted the pressure domestically to address skills shortages. So I am glad to see that drivers are now able to negotiate an improvement in their pay and sometimes in their conditions, but maybe Kickstart could help. That is my point.
As the average age of HGV drivers in the UK is 55, why not use Kickstart to initiate apprenticeship tasters in the driver and transport logistics world? I was inspired by Jennifer Swain, the head of talent and operations at Road to Logistics, who elaborated her vision for transforming an industry traditionally employing older males and talked about reaching out to those who normally face barriers to employment. I wonder whether Kickstart could be a vehicle for reaching out to Miss Swain and opening up the kind of careers that young people might consider.
I think that Kickstart is not over yet, but it needs to be reviewed. I hope the Bill and this probing amendment might make us think again about how it can be improved, expanded and give real opportunities.