Quickstart Bridgend
The Quickstart Bridgend project aims to support short term, paid work placements across the county borough with a view to participants gaining a permanent job within their host business at the end of that period. Participant training will also be supported during this time.
The project is currently closed to new placements. However, we welcome Expressions of Interest from potential host employers. We will hold these on file ready to review should further funding for the scheme become available.
Conditions
- Placements will be at least 25 hours per week and paid at the National Minimum Wage.
- The jobs must not replace existing or planned vacancies; not be seasonal, and/or cause existing employees, apprentices or contractors to lose work or reduce their working hours.
- Placements will need to be in excess of 12 weeks and up to 24 weeks.
- Applicants for the paid job placement will need to be above 16 years of age but there is no upper limit to age.
- The current minimum wage from 1st April 2024 for those aged 21 years and over is £11.44; for those aged 18 to 20 years is £8.60 and for those under 18 is £6.40 per hour. From 1stApril 2025 this will increase to £12.21 for those aged 21 years and over; £10.00 for those aged 18 to 20 years and £7.55 for those under 18.
- The wages paid out will be in retrospect via a claim process so those companies involved will need to have the cashflow to pay out before being reimbursed and to pay out the relevant contributions to HMRC before being reimbursed by the Quickstart Bridgend project.
We will in the main consider companies who currently employ from 10 to 250 employees and in exceptional circumstances we could consider those businesses who employ less than 10 (but no less than 4) subject to satisfying the condition of probable ongoing employment at the end of the paid placement.
It is the aspiration that employers can interview a range of applicants and choose the one that best suits their company using their usual processes. However, all applicants will be referred via Employability Bridgend. This is so the applicants can be supported before the interview and if required during and after the job placement so that the opportunity provides them with the best experience during their time with the host employer.
Register an interest
We want to understand the level of interest from employers across the county borough.
Employers can register their interest to host a job placement via our online Expression of Interest form:
Please note: Completing this Expression of Interest does not guarantee that you will be able to host a placement as we are expecting a lot of interest.
Bridgend Council has absolute discretion over the terms, eligibility and decision making of the Quickstart scheme and retains the ability to amend criteria at any time.
This project is being delivered by the Regeneration Funding Team at BCBC in partnership with the Department of Work and Pensions (DWP) and Employability Bridgend.