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UK to offer up to £4,500 bursary for families starting apprenticeships

The bursary is designed to offset Universal Credit payments lost when a child begins an apprenticeship, where current benefit reductions can reach £17 to £330 a week.

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The UK government says it will offer some parents up to £4,500 a year to encourage their children to start apprenticeships under new plans to push young people into work. The payment is intended to replace Universal Credit amounts lost when families take on apprenticeships, which the government estimates could affect a few thousand households.

BBC Business reports families could currently lose between £17 and £330 a week if their children start apprenticeships because, once apprenticeships are classified as paid employment, benefit payments are reduced. A Social Security Advisory Committee report warned of “perverse effects” on young people’s employment choices, including cases where single parents with a disabled child could lose up to £340 per week, exceeding an expected apprenticeship salary of £258 per week.

The committee also said the system is hampering efforts to reduce the number of young people not in education, employment or training. More than a million people aged 16 to 24 are currently Neet, according to official figures, and former Health Secretary Alan Milburn warned that one in six young people could be Neet in the next five years without urgent action.

The government said the bursary will come from a £30m pot funded through the growth and skills levy, a tax on employers with annual wage bills over £3m. Conservatives welcomed support for apprenticeships but criticized funding for the bursary, arguing it may be unfunded or misrepresented, according to BBC Business.

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