Government looks to spur apprentice take-up among SMEs

The measures will see the government: - -work SME advisors, including lawyers and accountants, to promote apprenticeships to their clients -improve access to apprenticeship training -improve the performance of training providers -widen the availability of the Apprenticeship AGE (16 – 24) Grant The government said its refinements to the £1,500 AGE Grant would involve delivering it in a single payment, rather than the current two. Employers will be able to claim grants for up to 10 apprentices, and the scheme will be opened to employers who have not hired an apprentice in the past year. Medium sized employers, who have between 250 and 1,000 employees, will also be eligible to claim the grant for apprentices aged 16-24. Commenting on the review Lynn Tomkins, operations director at Semta, the sector skills council for science, engineering and manufacturing, said manufacturing employers would welcome the recommendations. "The manufacturing industry has a long and proud history of investing in apprenticeship programmes but there are still too few SMEs in the supply chain taking them on," she added.