SummitSkills has welcomed the latest Government announcement making apprenticeship grants available to more employers and says it will give a welcome boost to SMEs in the building services engineering sector.
Announced by Skills Minister John Hayes on 29 August in response to the Holt Review, the Government is relaxing the restrictions on its Apprenticeship Grants for Employers (AGE) scheme, enabling SMEs who have previously taken on apprentices to benefit from the £1,500 financial support, as well as those who have never taken on an apprentice before.

The Apprenticeship Grants for Employers (AGE) scheme provides up to 40,000 grants to encourage and support employers taking on a young apprentice aged 16 to 24.

Now the upper limit on the size of qualifying employers has been increased from up to 250 staff to those SMEs with to 1,000 staff. Payment used to take place in two instalments but will now be made all at once and employers can claim grants for up to ten new apprentices.

Chief executive of SummitSkills, Keith Marshall OBE, said: 'These changes to the AGE scheme will contribute to the creation of more apprenticeships and we welcome the Government's quick action in response to the findings of the Holt Review.

He continued: 'Our sector needs to invest in creating a pipeline of talented people to protect its future, but this is a difficult message for many employers to hear at the moment when they are under such financial pressure. Easier access to this grant may well be the catalyst to tip an employer's decision toward taking on an apprentice as an investment for the future.'

The Holt Review is an examination by jeweller and social entrepreneur Jason Holt into ways to make apprenticeships simpler and more accessible for SMEs.