Incentives

Employers are entitled to a £1000 incentive payment when taking on an apprentice aged 16-18, or anyone under 25, formerly in care or who has an education and health care plan. 

If an apprentice is eligible, your training provider will give you the payment in two instalments of £500. You will get the first payment after 90 days and the second one after a year.

Employers can get help from the government to pay for apprenticeship training. The money will go towards the cost of training and assessment. The amount received depends on whether a company pays the apprenticeship levy or not.​

The apprenticeship levy is an amount paid at 0.5% of an employer’s annual pay bill, where the pay bill exceeds £3m. Levy-paying employers will have to pay this tax regardless of whether they employ an apprentice or not. 

If an employer does not pay the apprenticeship levy, they will pay 5% of the agreed price of the apprenticeship for the cost of training and assessing an apprentice. The government will pay the rest.

Depending on the size of an employer and the age of the apprentice, an employer may be eligible to receive 100% funding.