PAG in the Press: The Success of the Kickstart Scheme

Having been involved with the Kickstart Scheme since its inception, Premier Advisory Group knows the difference that it can make to the thousands of young people across the UK who are paying the price for the economic crisis triggered by the COVID-19 pandemic.

Leveraging its knowledge of the education sector and its connections within it, PAG launched an education-specific Kickstart service in January. PAG aimed to help all educational organisations, from Single and Multi-Academy Trusts to nurseries and independent schools, to exploit the myriad benefits of the scheme, while giving young people the chance to gain work experience and improve critical employability skills.

The progress that PAG has made since then has been nothing short of remarkable. In March 2021 PAG was approved as a Kickstart Gateway and, only three months later, PAG became a DWP National Gateway, one of the only two DWP National Gateway providers specialising in education. We are particularly proud of this achievement, which represents a recognition of our quality efforts to meet the needs of the education sector and, even more significantly, to support hundreds of young people to prove that they can live up to the expectations of an increasingly competitive and demanding job market.

Being proud of what we have achieved so far does not mean that we intend to take our foot off the gas - quite the opposite. We continue to look for new avenues to maximise the positive impact of the Kickstart Scheme, including specific initiatives which target areas where the take-up is lower such as independent schools and schools in Scotland and Wales.

It has also become evident to us that there was something more we could do to further promote the Kickstart Scheme: hitting the press. Raising awareness of the programme is an effective way to give visibility to the scheme and help an even greater number of young people.

We celebrated the appointment of our clients’ first Kickstart employees by issuing press releases sharing our clients’ satisfaction for their participation in the scheme. Discussing Nathan, a new Site Assistant, Antony Witheyman, CEO of Innovate Multi Academy Trust, stated:

‘We are confident that Nathan will add authentic value to our Trust, while gaining crucial skills that will boost his future employability prospects. The interview team was really impressed with Nathan, who showed confidence, a professional attitude and significant potential.’

You can read the full press release, published on the Daventry Express on 17th June 2021, here.

As the following words clearly demonstrate, Matthew Byrne, Director of Crafty Wizards Pre-Schools, was equally thrilled about the recruitment of Jacqueline and Debbie, who joined his organisation in the roles of EYFS Assistant and Business Administration Support respectively:

‘We are thrilled to welcome Jacqueline and Debbie to our team of committed educators. The mission of Crafty Wizards is to inspire learning through the power of creativity and imagination and we are confident that Jacqueline and Debbie, in different capacities, will help us achieve this goal.’

You can read the full press release, published on Nurseries UK on 29th June 2021, here.

The press releases also include a quote from Anna-Fosse Galtier, Lead Kickstart Consultant at Premier Advisory, who has been overseeing the entire project since January:

‘We are proud of the significant role we are playing in this government programme, and we will continue to work hard so that the highest possible number of young people can gain meaningful work experience.’

We were delighted, but not surprised, to see that the press welcomed these pieces of news, which make clear that there are outstanding candidates out there ready to add value and capacity to educational settings of any kind.

Our Kickstart adventure continues, and we are loving every minute of it!