Arabic version: منح مالية مرتقبة لأسر المتدربين الجدد

According to BBC News, some parents receiving benefits will be offered up to £4,500 a year if their children begin apprenticeships. The government said the bursary would replace Universal Credit payments that families can lose when a young person starts paid apprenticeship work.

The scheme is expected to help an estimated few thousand households. Families currently face losing between £17 and £330 a week when children take up apprenticeships because the roles are classed as paid employment and can reduce benefit payments.

A Social Security Advisory Committee report warned of the benefits system’s “perverse effects” on young people’s employment choices. It said a single parent with a disabled child could lose up to £340 a week in benefits if that child began an apprenticeship, more than the expected apprenticeship salary of £258 per week. The committee said this was hampering efforts to reduce the number of young people not in education, employment or training.

The bursary will come from a £30m pot funded through the growth and skills levy, a tax on employers with annual wage bills above £3m. Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden said the policy would ensure “cost is not the reason someone misses out”. The wider package includes apprenticeship training funding for under-25s and extra support for employers.

Official figures show that more than a million people aged 16 to 24 are currently not in education, employment or training. Former Health Secretary Alan Milburn has warned that one in six young people could be in that position within five years without urgent action. The Conservatives welcomed Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s backing for apprenticeships but criticised the bursary plans as “uncosted”.