{"id":44826,"date":"2026-07-29T00:23:53","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T04:23:53","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/2026\/07\/29\/some-parents-on-benefits-to-get-up-to-4500-if-children-take-on-apprenticeships\/"},"modified":"2026-07-29T00:23:53","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T04:23:53","slug":"some-parents-on-benefits-to-get-up-to-4500-if-children-take-on-apprenticeships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/2026\/07\/29\/some-parents-on-benefits-to-get-up-to-4500-if-children-take-on-apprenticeships\/","title":{"rendered":"Some parents on benefits to get up to \u00a34,500 if children take on apprenticeships"},"content":{"rendered":"
\n

Some parents on benefits will be given up to \u00a34,500 a year to encourage their children to start apprenticeships, the government has said.<\/b><\/p>\n

Under plans to encourage young people into work, families will be offered a bursary to replace Universal Credit payments lost by starting jobs.<\/p>\n

The payment is expected to benefit an estimated few thousand households, who currently face losing between \u00a317 and \u00a3330 a week if their children start apprenticeships.<\/p>\n

The Conservatives welcomed Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s support for apprenticeships, but criticised his plans to fund the bursaries.<\/p>\n

The bursary will be paid for from a \u00a330m pot, funded through the growth and skills levy, a tax on employers with annual wage bills over \u00a33m.<\/p>\n

It followed the publication of a Social Security Advisory Committee report, external<\/span> which warned of the “perverse effects” of the benefits system on young people’s employment choices.<\/p>\n

It said, for example, single parents with a disabled child could lose up to \u00a3340 per week in benefits if their child started an apprenticeship, exceeding the expected apprenticeship salary of \u00a3258 per week. <\/p>\n

Because they are classed as paid employment, benefit payments are reduced to households where young people take on apprenticeships.<\/p>\n

The committee said the system was hampering government efforts to reduce the number of young people not in education, employment or training (Neet).<\/p>\n

In a recent report, former Health Secretary Alan Milburn warned that one in six young people could be Neet in the next five years unless urgent action is taken.<\/p>\n

Official figures show more than a million people aged 16 to 24 are currently Neet.<\/p>\n

The government said its new bursary would remove a barrier to young people taking on apprenticeships, allowing them to “earn and learn”.<\/p>\n

Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden said: “By providing bursaries to those who need them most and fully funding apprenticeship training, we are making sure cost is not the reason someone misses out.”<\/p>\n

It is part of a wider package of support for apprenticeships, including funding for apprenticeship training for under-25s and additional support for employers taking on apprentices.<\/p>\n

Helen Whately, the Shadow Work and Pensions Secretary, said: “I’m glad Burnham agrees: apprenticeships are a good thing, and we need more of them.”<\/p>\n

But she said the plan was “uncosted”.<\/p>\n

“It is spending money already committed elsewhere. So, either it is another unfunded announcement, or Andy Burnham is not being straight with us about his plans.”<\/p>\n

Burnham has said he is “on a mission” to reduce the number of Neets.<\/p>\n

“The trend is rising at the moment, so the first thing I’ve got to do is to stop that rise,” he said.<\/p>\n

As he continues a flurry of early policy announcements, Burnham on Tuesday set out plans to strike a balance in the education system between prioritising academic and technical skills.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Some parents on benefits will be given up to \u00a34,500 a year to encourage their children to start apprenticeships, the government has said. Under plans to encourage young people into work, families will be offered a bursary to replace Universal Credit payments lost by starting jobs. The payment is expected to benefit an estimated few […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":44827,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"ocean_post_layout":"","ocean_both_sidebars_style":"","ocean_both_sidebars_content_width":0,"ocean_both_sidebars_sidebars_width":0,"ocean_sidebar":"","ocean_second_sidebar":"","ocean_disable_margins":"enable","ocean_add_body_class":"","ocean_shortcode_before_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_after_top_bar":"","ocean_shortcode_before_header":"","ocean_shortcode_after_header":"","ocean_has_shortcode":"","ocean_shortcode_after_title":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_widgets":"","ocean_shortcode_before_footer_bottom":"","ocean_shortcode_after_footer_bottom":"","ocean_display_top_bar":"default","ocean_display_header":"default","ocean_header_style":"","ocean_center_header_left_menu":"","ocean_custom_header_template":"","ocean_custom_logo":0,"ocean_custom_retina_logo":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_width":0,"ocean_custom_logo_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_tablet_max_height":0,"ocean_custom_logo_mobile_max_height":0,"ocean_header_custom_menu":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_family":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_subset":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_size":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_font_size_unit":"px","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_font_weight_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_tablet":"","ocean_menu_typo_transform_mobile":"","ocean_menu_typo_line_height":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_line_height_unit":"","ocean_menu_typo_spacing":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_tablet":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_mobile":0,"ocean_menu_typo_spacing_unit":"","ocean_menu_link_color":"","ocean_menu_link_color_hover":"","ocean_menu_link_color_active":"","ocean_menu_link_background":"","ocean_menu_link_hover_background":"","ocean_menu_link_active_background":"","ocean_menu_social_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_bg":"","ocean_menu_social_links_color":"","ocean_menu_social_hover_links_color":"","ocean_disable_title":"default","ocean_disable_heading":"default","ocean_post_title":"","ocean_post_subheading":"","ocean_post_title_style":"","ocean_post_title_background_color":"","ocean_post_title_background":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_image_position":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_attachment":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_repeat":"","ocean_post_title_bg_image_size":"","ocean_post_title_height":0,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay":0.5,"ocean_post_title_bg_overlay_color":"","ocean_disable_breadcrumbs":"default","ocean_breadcrumbs_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_separator_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_color":"","ocean_breadcrumbs_links_hover_color":"","ocean_display_footer_widgets":"default","ocean_display_footer_bottom":"default","ocean_custom_footer_template":"","ocean_post_oembed":"","ocean_post_self_hosted_media":"","ocean_post_video_embed":"","ocean_link_format":"","ocean_link_format_target":"self","ocean_quote_format":"","ocean_quote_format_link":"post","ocean_gallery_link_images":"on","ocean_gallery_id":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[19,21,20],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-44826","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-business","category-market","category-news","entry","has-media"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44826","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44826"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44826\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44827"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44826"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44826"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/sharewatch.com\/wp\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44826"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}