Cash bonus for businesses who take on apprentices

BUSINESSES are to be given £2,000 for each new apprentice aged 16 to 2 as part of a package to help young people into work.

Firms who hire apprentices aged 25 and over will receive £1,500 under the scheme that runs from August to January, chancellor Rishi Sunak said.

The money will be in addition to the £1,000 already provided for 16- to 18year-old apprentices.

Mr Sunak also confirmed a ‘kickstart scheme’ to help young people secure jobs. He said it ‘will directly pay employers to create new jobs for any 16- to 2 -year-old at risk of long-term unemployment’.

He added: ‘These will be new jobs – with the funding conditional on the firm proving these jobs are additional. These will be decent jobs – with a minimum of 25 hours per week paid at least the national minimum wage.’ Mr Sunak said employers will need to provide training and support to find a permanent job, adding: ‘If employers meet those conditions, we will pay young people’s wages for six months, plus an amount to cover overheads.’

The hope is for the first to be in their jobs by autumn. Mr Sunak said £17million will be made to triple the number of work academy placements, and nearly £900million to double the number of work coaches to 27,000.

More than 250,000 more young people will benefit from an extra £32million investment in the National Careers Service, he added.

Kirstie Donnelly, of the City & Guilds Group, said the measures have the potential to tackle unemployment and boost productivity ‘if they genuinely lead to new skills and real jobs’.