£1,000 cash boost for employers offering traineeships
28 January 2021
Following on from the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak’s announcement, in July 2020, as part of his Plan for Jobs, that an additional £111 million investment will be provided to support the largest-ever expansion of traineeships, businesses providing a traineeship, or traineeships, will now be provided with £1,000 in cash to support the cost.
An announcement, by Apprenticeships and Skills Minister, Gillian Keegan, on 28 January 2021, revealed that applications can now be made online. The new scheme will aim to assist young people in gaining the skills and experience they need from the start, which will help to find a job, an apprenticeship or provide a gateway into further study. The £1,000 will be available up until 31 July 2021 and will support businesses with the costs associated with providing high-quality work placements for trainees. This will include providing facilities, uniforms or helping with travel costs.
The £1,000 bonus will be available for each trainee that is taken on, up to a maximum of ten trainees, and there is the option for employers to claim the cash incentive for all work placements completed since 1 September 2020.
Research highlights the fact that the traineeship programme has already helped almost 120,000 young people in their careers since 2013 and shows that 66% of trainees either get a job, take up an apprenticeship or study further, within six months of completing the programme.
The traineeship programmes last for a duration of between six weeks and 12 months, and will centre around developing vital employability skills, in addition to English, maths and digital skills. This will be combined with a work placement, which must last at least 70 hours. Young people have already completed work placements in a variety of different industries.
Chancellor, Rishi Sunak. said:
“My number one priority is to support, protect and create jobs, which is why for the first time ever we’re giving businesses £1,000 to cover the cost of trainee work experience, because we know that traineeships are a proven way to give young people the skills and opportunity, they need to be ready for work.
We also know that our young people will be vital in the national effort to recover from the pandemic, so I urge businesses to seize this opportunity and help us harness the talent of our young people and offer hope for the future.”
This cash boost is in addition to the recently announced apprentice scheme, which provides employers with £2,000 for every new apprentice under the age of 25 that they hire, and £1,500 for apprentices who are aged 25 and over. Over 10,000 employers have already made use of the scheme, will run until March 2021, allowing businesses to create new opportunities. There is also the Kickstart Scheme, which is creating many new jobs for young people across the country.
CIPP comment
Will you be making use of the £1,000 cash boost for traineeships? Answer the CIPP’s Quick Poll today, on the topic of Government measures to incentivise young people to get into work, to feed into useful research on the topic.