Chancellor, Stephen Hammond has announced two significant changes to affecting apprenticeships in today’s budget. The contribution required of non-levy paying employers taking on apprentices will be reduced from 10% to 5% from April 2019. This change has been widely welcomed although some had been lobbying for the charge to be removed altogether. More information and comment is here. Could this see a dip in starts in the New Year as employers wait for the cost reduction to kick in?
The apprentice minimum wage is set to rise in April from £3.70 to £3.90 an hour – again welcome news but some will be disappointed that the Chancellor didn’t go further and abolish the apprenticeship rate to allow apprentices to earn the same as other employees. More is here. The Government’s response to the Low Pay Commission’s living and minimum wage recommendations is here.
A further summary of the budget announcements for education, employment and training and the response from sector leaders is here and the full budget document is here with the most relevant paragraphs being 4.48-4.50.