Chancellor unveils plan to help small businesses access free apprenticeship training- 8th July 2020
The Chancellor has announced plans to accelerate business growth and aid economic recovery, with SMEs (small to medium sized enterprises) set to benefit from free training.
SMEs account for 99.9% of the business population, that’s a total of 5.9 million businesses in the UK (www.gov.uk, 2019). This important milestone sheds a light on the major part both SMEs and work-based training will play as the country recovers from the Covid-19 pandemic and rebuilds for a better future
[QUOTE FROM ANNOUNCEMENT TO GO HERE]
What has changed?
Employer contributions have been scrapped, which means that SME businesses can now access free training. In fact, they will be able to claim a £3,000 cash payment for each new recruit under the age of 25. It will bring significant opportunity and benefit to employers and apprentices alike.
We’ve provided the key highlights from the announcement below:
Free training
Businesses are no longer required to pay a contribution towards training. This means that the Government will pay 100% of the training costs – making it free to take on an apprentice!
A new way to find training providers
Employers will now be required to use the government apprentice service to procure training providers.
A £3,000 incentive
Employers will be paid £3,000 directly for each new recruit under the age of 25.
Traineeships
Offering people the opportunity to gain valuable employment experience
There’s never been a better time for SMEs to train and develop their workforce.
Check out our range of apprenticeships and training programmes, here and see how we can help unlock this great opportunity for the workforce of today ready for tomorrow.