Solihull Jobs Guarantee: 275 Places, Referrals End October

The window to place a young Solihull jobseeker into a fully funded six-month job closes at the end of October, and the wages do not come out of the employer’s pocket.

Solihull and Birmingham share 275 places on the government’s Jobs Guarantee, one of six pilot areas in Great Britain. The Department for Work and Pensions will accept referrals between April and October 2026 inclusive, and job starts are expected in the same window, from May to October 2026 (Jobs Guarantee Phase One grant guidance, DWP).

The scheme exists for exactly the group that is growing fastest in this borough. There were 730 people aged 18 to 21 claiming out-of-work benefits in Solihull in July 2026, up from 520 in July 2024, a rise of 210 or 40.4% in two years (ONS claimant count via nomis, dataset NM_162_1). That is a steeper rise than Birmingham’s over the same period, where the 18 to 21 count went from 7,425 to 9,200, up 23.9%.

We reported last week that claims by 18 to 24 year olds in Solihull are up 30% in two years while every other age group is flat or falling. Narrow the age band to the group the Jobs Guarantee actually covers and the rise is steeper still.

Who qualifies

The rules are tight, and they are worth reading carefully before anyone raises hopes. DWP’s own guidance says the scheme is for 18 to 21 year olds who have been on Universal Credit for 18 months in the Intensive Work Search regime, which means they have not been assessed as having Limited Capability for Work.

On top of that, they must either:

• have been out of work and education for the last 18 months, or
• have completed less than 50 hours of paid work over the last 18 months.

Two details soften the edges. Someone referred at 21 may be 22 by the time they finish, and that is allowed. And where there is spare capacity, DWP says it may widen the criteria, most likely to those aged 22 to 24 who would otherwise be eligible.

Young people do not apply directly. They are referred by DWP to the delivery organisation for their area.

What an employer gets

The government covers 100% of employment costs for 25 hours a week at the relevant minimum wage. In full, that means:

• wages up to 25 hours a week at the age-relevant minimum wage
• the associated employer National Insurance contributions
• minimum employer pension contributions where relevant
• up to £250 per participant towards eligible set-up costs, excluding VAT

At the National Minimum Wage rates in force since 1 April 2026, £10.85 an hour for 18 to 20 year olds and £12.71 for those aged 21 and over (GOV.UK), 25 hours a week is £271.25 or £317.75. Over a six-month placement that is roughly £7,050 to £8,260 of wages, before National Insurance and pension, and none of it comes from the employer. Those totals are our calculation from the published hourly rates, not a figure the scheme quotes.

The participant also gets a £300 bursary, two weeks of pre-placement preparation, a Career Coach through the placement and specialist mental health support, according to Catch22, the charity delivering the pilot here. Its partners are Supplytrain CIC, Sport 4 Life UK and Jobcentre Plus.

Employers register through the pilot’s own site, jobsguaranteewm.co.uk, which says the team confirms vacancy details and that many employers can have a candidate in post within eight weeks. Count forward from today and eight weeks lands inside the final fortnight of the referral window. Anyone thinking about it should not wait.

The arithmetic nobody puts on the poster

Birmingham and Solihull’s 275 places are the joint largest allocation of the six Phase One areas, level with Greater Manchester. The full list, from the DWP guidance:

Set 275 against the claimant count and the scale becomes clear. Birmingham and Solihull between them had 9,930 claimants aged 18 to 21 in July 2026. The pilot’s 275 places are 2.8% of that, or about one place for every 36 young claimants.

That comparison needs a caveat, and it is an important one: not every 18 to 21 year old claimant has been on Universal Credit for 18 months, so the genuinely eligible pool is smaller than 9,930. DWP has not published the eligible figure for Birmingham and Solihull, so 9,930 is the outer boundary of the need, not a count of people turned away.

The government’s stated ambition is much larger than the pilot. The ministerial foreword to the guidance, from Baroness Smith of Malvern, Minister for Skills, describes jobs for 55,000 long-term unemployed young people over the next three years, with national roll-out across Great Britain later in 2026. It also cites evidence that young people who experience long-term unemployment can lose up to £1,000,000 in lifetime earnings compared with their peers.

What it means for you

• If you are 18 to 21, in Solihull, and have been on Universal Credit for 18 months or more, ask your work coach about the Jobs Guarantee by name at your next Jobcentre appointment. You cannot self-refer, and the referral window closes at the end of October.
• If you are 22 to 24 and would otherwise qualify, it is still worth asking. DWP has written into the guidance that it may widen referrals to your age group where there is spare capacity.
• If you run a business in the borough, the placement costs you the supervision and not the wages, and you can register at jobsguaranteewm.co.uk. Allow up to eight weeks to get someone in post.
• If nothing comes of it before the deadline, this is Phase One only. National roll-out is stated for later in 2026, so a missed window here is not the end of the scheme.

Where this sits

One caution on the sources. The DWP guidance page is now headed “[CLOSED]” and was last updated on 20 August 2026. That closure refers to the grant application process for delivery organisations, which finished once Catch22 and the other providers were appointed. The page does not say the scheme itself has closed to employers or participants, and the West Midlands pilot’s own employer sign-up page was live when we checked it today.

Phase One is funded to run to August 2027, with the last six-month placement finishing by 30 April 2027 and final payments made by the end of July 2027.

Sources

• Jobs Guarantee Phase One grant guidance, Department for Work and Pensions, updated 20 August 2026, for the eligibility rules, the six pilot areas and their referral numbers, the referral and job-start windows, what the grant covers for employers, and the ministerial foreword. Open Government Licence v3.0.
• ONS claimant count via nomis, dataset NM_162_1, age band 18 to 21, both sexes, July 2024, July 2025 and July 2026, for Solihull and Birmingham.
• Catch22: young people in Birmingham and Solihull offered paid work placements, 28 April 2026, for the delivery partners, the bursary and the support package.
• Jobs Guarantee West Midlands employer site for the employer offer, the £250 set-up contribution and the eight-week timeline.
• GOV.UK National Minimum Wage rates for the hourly rates in force from 1 April 2026.

Figures checked on 25 August 2026. The weekly and six-month wage totals are our own calculation from the published minimum wage rates and the scheme’s 25-hour cap; the scheme does not publish a headline figure per placement.