New job scheme aims to Kickstart 50 new careers in the city
DERBY city centre is the home to 50 new jobs, thanks to the Government’s £2 billion Kickstart programme.
All the available roles are designed to help young people enter the workplace.
They are open to those aged 16 to 24, who are claiming Universal Credit and at risk of long-term unemployment.
Roles available include a trainee maintenance assistant, trainee barista, chefs and commis chefs, accounts clerk and a research assistant.
There are also posts in customer service, housekeeping, care and social media and marketing.
Every role is at least 25 hours per week, with salaries based on the national minimum wage.
Contracts are expected to last six months. Successful applicants will receive help to build their work experience, gain valuable new skills and move into sustained employment. Referrals for these roles can only be made via a Jobcentre Work Coach. Work coaches can also help candidates with their applications.
A Jobcentre spokesperson said more opportunities would be available via the Kickstart programme over coming weeks.
They said: “As more employers get involved and their Kickstart vacancies get approved by DWP, the number of vacancies will continue to increase, offering more opportunities for young people.”
Kickstart was launched in September by Chancellor Rishi
Sunak in an attempt to create chances for young Britons whose career opportunities may have been impacted by the coronavirus pandemic.
“I’ve always said my priority through this crisis is to protect, support and create as many jobs as possible, and young people in particular have been at the forefront of my mind,” said Mr Sunak. More help is available for young job-seekers via a free five-day course being run by the Prince’s Trust on how to get started within the film and music industry. The programme is available to anyone aged between 16 and 30 not in education, employment or training.
The closing date for referrals is tomorrow and candidates can register for a place by emailing tania.brown@princes-trust. org.uk
As more employers get involved and their Kickstart vacancies get approved by DWP, the number of vacancies will increase.
Jobcentre
A DERBYSHIRE pensioner has been cleared of murdering a man he struck with a car and who later died.
A jury deliberated for more than 10 hours before returning with a not guilty verdict on John Hodgkiss for the murder of Andrew Thorpe.
They also cleared him of causing death by dangerous driving but found him guilty on a majority of causing the 32-year-old’s death by careless driving. At Derby Crown Court Judge Shaun Smith QC sentenced the 68-year-old to eight months in prison and disqualified him from driving for a year. He was released because of time already served on remand.
Giving evidence, Hodgkiss told the court he did not mean to kill or harm the victim. He said he had gone to find his son Shane who he believed was being beaten up by brothers Andrew and Nicholas Thorpe.
But after getting into his car and driving up the road, the 68-year-old said the first he saw of Andrew Thorpe was the moment his car hit him.
Felicity Gerry QC, his barrister, asked the father-of-four: “Did you mean to hit him?”
Hodgkiss replied: “Oh no.”
She said: “Did you see him?” He replied: “I did not see him.” Miss Gerry asked: “Did you drive at him?”
Hodgkiss said: “No.”
She said: “Did you see Andrew Thorpe at all?”
He replied: “No.”
The prosecution had claimed Hodgkiss deliberately mowed down and killed Mr Thorpe during “a moment of rage”. They said he accelerated towards the victim and sent him flying over his car hitting his head and causing the catastrophic head injures that killed him.
The incident took place on Rotherham Road, Clowne, just around the corner from the defendant’s home in Barlborough Road. Mr Thorpe died six days later.
BORIS JOHNSON has insisted the UK has “one of the toughest border regimes anywhere in the world” despite the Brazilian coronavirus strain being detected.
The Prime Minister claimed the Government “moved as fast as we could” to launch its quarantine hotel policy.
Public Health England has identified six UK cases of the concerning P1 variant first detected in the Brazilian city of Manaus – three in England and three in Scotland.
This has led to accusations that stricter and quicker restrictions should have been imposed on international arrivals.
UK nationals or residents have continued to be allowed to return from Brazil using indirect fights.
The requirement for them to carry out their 10-day quarantine period at a hotel was only implemented on February 15, around a month after concerns about the variant became widespread.
Mr Johnson told reporters: “We have got one of the toughest border regimes anywhere in the world for stopping people coming in to this country who may have variants of concern.”
Asked if the Government was too slow to implement quarantine hotel measures, the Prime Minister replied: “I don’t think so – we moved as fast as we could to get that going. It’s a very tough regime – you come here, you immediately get transported to a hotel where you are kept for 10 days, 11 days.
“You have to test on day two, you have to test on day eight, and it’s designed to stop the spread of new variants while we continue to roll out the vaccination programme.”
Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer said the discovery of the Brazilian coronavirus variant in the UK shows the Government has not “secured our borders in the way we should have done” and are not tough enough.
Speaking at a virtual meeting with Welsh businesses to mark St David’s Day, Mr Starmer said: “It demonstrates the slowness of the Government to close off even the major routes, but also the unwillingness to confront the fact that the virus doesn’t travel by direct flights.
“We know from last summer that a lot of virus came in from countries where it didn’t originate, but people were coming indirect, and that’s the way people travel.”
Wales First Minister Mark Drakeford told the meeting he had “worries” about Mr Johnson’s plan for international holidays to resume in May for people in England.
He said: “I would build the walls higher for now against the risk that we would bring into this country the variants that could be brewing in any part of the world, and could then put at risk all the careful work we have done to try and keep Wales safe.”
The Government, meanwhile, has said a further 104 people had died within 28 days of testing positive for Covid-19 as of yesterday, bringing the UK total to 122,953.
It is the lowest daily figure since October 26, when there were 102 deaths.
The Government also said there had been a further 5,455 lab-confirmed cases.