Extra cash for hiring a new apprentice

Under the apprenticeship incentive scheme businesses can now apply to claim £3,000 for each new apprentice that they hire of any age between 1 April and 30 September 2021. This is a significant improvement on the previous apprenticeship incentive scheme that ran between 1 August 2020 and 31 March 2021 (under which the business could claim £2,000 for each new apprentice hired aged under 25, and £1,500 for each new apprentice hired aged 25 and over).

Key provisions of the apprenticeship incentive scheme include:

• the business must set up an apprenticeship service account to claim the incentive payment
• the incentive payment is in addition to the £1,000 that employers already receive for hiring an apprentice aged 16 to 18 years old (or under 25 with an education, health and care plan or who has been in the care of their local authority). It’s also in addition to the funding available to the business for training and assessing apprentices
• to receive the full payment, the apprenticeship must last for at least one year
• the apprentice’s employment start date must be between 1 April and 30 September 2021 (but the apprenticeship start date can be up to 30 November 2021)
• the business can only apply for new apprentices - they can’t apply for an existing employee who joined before 1 April 2021, even if they started an apprenticeship after this date
• the business can apply for the payment after they’ve added the new apprentice to the apprenticeship service account
• the payment will be made in two equal instalments - the first payment is due after the apprentice completes 90 days of their apprenticeship and the second is due after 365 days
• the business can choose how to spend the cash to support its costs.