Jennifer McKiernan,Political reporterand
Kathryn Armstrong
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An expansion of the government’s apprenticeship scheme is expected to benefit 50,000 young people as part of a push to tackle youth unemployment.
The number of young people starting apprenticeships has fallen by almost 40% in the past decade, Skills Minister Baroness Jacqui Smith told the BBC.
She said the government was removing the 5% levy on apprentices for under-25s and offering new apprenticeships in AI, hospitality and engineering, some with the defence sector.
The number of young people aged 16 to 24 who are neither earning or learning has been going up since 2021, with the latest figures showing nearly a million now categorised as not in employment, education or training.
Chancellor Rachel Reeves earmarked £725m for the scheme in the Budget, over the next three years, and short courses will be offered from spring next year.
A pilot programme allowing mayors to connect young people with local employers and apprenticeship opportunities will get a £140m chunk of the funding, although it’s not yet clear how that money will be used.
Speaking to BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Baroness Smith said the focus was on reforming the apprenticeship system.
“The real priority for us with apprenticeships is to put right what we’ve seen over the last 10 years, which is a reduction of 40% in young people starting apprenticeships – apprenticeships which can really set you on the route to a high-skilled job and the sort of earnings and the sort of jobs that young people want,” she said.
“So we are making a determined shift of apprenticeship training back towards young people again.
“We’re fully funding apprenticeship training for young people in small and medium sized businesses, unlike previously, and we are reforming the rest of the apprenticeship system so that we can offer short courses for adults.”
On complaints from larger companies that changes to the levy will make it less efficient, she said: “We’re open to the concerns that employers have and how we actually deliver it.”
The builder’s merchant Travis Perkins welcomed the expansion, with the director of skills and apprenticeships Andy Rayner saying the announcement would be “significant” for the construction sector.
“Our industry needs more people coming through and these measures will make it easier for both learners and employers to commit to apprenticeship routes,” he said.
Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer has previously said he wants apprenticeships treated with the same respect as degree courses.
He is expected to speak on Monday about the scheme and how a “narrow view” about young people going to university “has held back opportunity and created barriers we need to break”.
Speaking to the BBC’s Sunday with Laura Kuenssberg, Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden said young people had “not had a good enough deal” in areas such as housing and employment.
He also spoke about the government’s plans to get young people off Universal Credit and into jobs, which it is spending a further £820m on.
Some 55,000 six-month placements will be rolled out from next April for those who have been on a benefit for 18 months or more.
The placements will be rolled out in six parts of the UK with high youth unemployment and will be “fully subsidised” for 25 hours a week, paid at the legal minimum wage. The money will also fund training and work support.
Employers taking part in the scheme are yet to be announced, but ministers have said new opportunities will be created in sectors including construction, health and social care and hospitality.
In total, the government plans to create 350,000 training and work experience placements.
McFadden’s Conservative counterpart Helen Whately said the scheme showed that Labour had “no plan for growth, no plan to create real jobs”.
