A £1.9 BILLION youth employment scheme launched by the government has been branded “chaotic” while failing to deliver for young people, employers or taxpayers.

The public accounts committee (PAC) said that the Kickstart programme has supported far fewer young people than predicted.

MPs said that they supported the intention of the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) to support young people into work in what was expected to be a downturn in employment opportunities because of the pandemic.

But the committee said that early delivery of the scheme was chaotic and accused the DWP of neglecting to put in place “basic management information that would be expected for a multibillion-pound grant programme.”

The DWP is now forecasting that Kickstart will support 168,000 young people, fewer than the original prediction of 250,000, the PAC report said.

Despite more favourable than predicted economic conditions, many young people who applied for universal credit at the start of the pandemic have remained on the benefit, and the DWP does not know why these people have not moved into Kickstart jobs, the PAC said.

The report said that the DWP also does not know what employers are providing with the £1,500 employability support grants they get for each young person they take on through the scheme.

It urged the department to claw back employment support costs where the employer has not used the money in line with its expectations.

PAC chair Dame Meg Hillier said: “There are very unfortunate similarities across the government’s Covid response schemes: rushed implementation and too little track kept of whether a scheme was delivering what it promises – even given the unprecedented pressures at the start of the pandemic.”

A government spokesman said: “Kickstart has categorically delivered, giving more than 130,000 young people opportunities to work, earn and improve their prospects.”