Question to the Department for Education:

To ask Her Majesty's Government what plans they have to increase support for apprentices who have been made redundant during the COVID-19 pandemic.

We are committed to supporting redundant apprentices to find new opportunities and to continue and complete their apprenticeships wherever possible.

In August we introduced the new Redundancy Support Service for Apprentices which provides clear, accessible advice and guidance to individuals on the impact of redundancy, their options and next steps. As part of this service we also launched a vacancy sharing scheme to help redundant apprentices find new apprenticeship opportunities with employers. Over 850 employers have signed up to the service to offer opportunities to redundant apprentices, including Bupa Dental and Taylor Wimpey.

We have also amended legislation to enable more apprentices to complete their apprenticeship in the event of redundancy. In addition to funding an apprentice’s training to completion if they have less than six months of their apprenticeship remaining at the point of redundancy, we have extended this provision to include any apprentice who has completed 75% or more of their apprenticeship at the point of redundancy.

To help support employers to offer new apprenticeships, including to those that have been made redundant, employers are now able to claim £2,000 for every new apprentice they hire under the age of 25, and £1,500 for those 25 and over, until 31 January 2021.