About the Course

The government’s Kickstart Scheme provides funding to employers to create jobs for 16-to-24-year-olds on Universal Credit. The scheme is applicable to all business, including those within the dental profession. Tipton Training, the UK’s largest dental training company, have become an approved gateway to the governments Kickstart scheme specialising in dentistry.

Dentists can apply for the Kickstart Scheme directly through Tipton Training, who will handle your application from start to finish.

Here, Professor Paul Tipton, Clinical Director of Tipton Training, answers some frequently asked questions about the scheme:

What is the Government Kickstart scheme all about?

The Kickstart Scheme is available to businesses who are looking to employ between 1 and 30 new employees. Under the scheme the Government will cover 100% of employment costs for 25 hours a week. This includes the employee’s salary at the appropriate minimum wage for their age range. It includes National Insurance contributions. All new employees provided by the scheme are between 16 and 24 years of age and currently claiming Universal Credit.

When did Tipton training become a Kickstart Gateway?

We became a government approved kickstart gateway at the end of 2020. After a lengthy process of completing every clerical and financial requirement set by the government’s due diligence process, we were finally awarding the title of ‘Registered Gateway’ and we are immensely proud that we passed all the tests and the selection criteria.

Once approved, Steve Kettle, who is leading this project, formed the Kickstart Wraparound. A service to help businesses make the most of the funding, managing the entire process on their behalf to ensure a seamless and pain-free on boarding of their new staff members. In addition, coordinating a complete wraparound training programme, in association with Tipton Training, to ensure every individual who is recruited through the scheme has the best start on their career journey.

What inspired Tipton Training to venture into this project and become a Government Gateway?

We have been involved in training nurses for some time, so it seemed a natural progression to work with the government to try to help place more nurses into the profession and at the same time train them. We have a large number of practice owners coming through all of the Tipton Training courses and a common theme is difficulty in recruiting staff, so we decided to do something about it.

How does the scheme fit into the overall Tipton Training offering?

Tipton Training has always been and will continue to be a training company dedicated to upskilling dentists to be able to perform and provide better dentistry for their patients. If we can also help the profession move out of this exceedingly difficult Covid period as we do this then that’s even better.

What we are doing now which may be a little different is finding new staff members and giving them the training, they need to understand and then enjoy a career in dentistry so everyone wins, and the profession can move forwards once again.

Why is this type of scheme so important for the Dental Industry?

The UK dental industry has been hit by each lockdown and the fallow time required between patients as a result.

This has built up a backlog and means that many dentists are working longer hours or deciding that now is the right time to turn private. This scheme will help both NHS and private dentists alike by supplying new staff free of charge. We can supply, via the government Kickstart scheme, free of charge staff to help with social media or marketing for those looking to turn private or expand their private practice or one or two extra trainee nurses, receptionists, or admin staff to handle the extra workload and allow the existing staff to get on with their usual duties.

What are some of the key challenges that dental practices face in the current climate that you think this scheme could help with?

As mentioned, the challenges a lot of dental practices face are to do with additional paperwork and patients so new staff members can help alleviate this and support expansion with focused marketing where dedicated social media and marketing staff, often graduates, can drive the business forwards … again at no extra charge to the business.

By supporting the scheme, and providing opportunities for the unemployed within their local area, dentists will also be promoting their vital position within the community … So it’s very much a win win situation.

What is the ultimate goal for Kickstart wraparound this year?

The ultimate goal is to help the dental industry in the UK and the young unemployed people of the country by getting people back into work. Ideally, we would like to place a new staff member into all the practices in the UK but we know that’s not achievable in this short period of time up to the end of the year.

How can you get involved?

To be eligible, you must be a Limited company, then all you need to do is log onto our website and complete the short Expression of interest form. You will then be contacted by Steve Kettle or another member of the team to talk through your requirements in more detail.

https://kickstartwraparound.com

You can also email us at info@kickstartwraparound.com, or give us a call on 0177 264 2800.