The government are campaigning for young people to go into apprenticeships. But they haven't addressed the issue facing a lot of families. If a child of a low income family takes up an apprenticeship it forces the family into financial hardship - climate due to covid this will impact families more.
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As it stands a child can attend college for A-Levels and work part time without that money counting against the parent’s other income related benefits because the child is a dependant as the family are still eligible for Child Benefit and Child Tax Credit.
However if a child takes on an apprenticeship they become a non-dependant and Child Benefit and Child Tax Credit is taken away. The family face reduced or lost income related benefits, and in some cases facing increased costs associated with travel to their apprenticeship for example. The families income drops simply due to the "name" of what they have chosen to do - "apprenticeship".