The incentive will be paid by the government in two instalments for apprentices who are new to the business, so cannot be claimed when upskilling existing staff.

There will be three incentive levels based on the apprentice’s age:

• £2000 for 16–18-year-olds (in addition to existing incentive payment of £1000)
• £2000 for 19–24-year-olds
• £1500 for apprentices 25 or over

These payments will be made in addition to the existing £1,000 incentive received by businesses when hiring new 16-18 year-old apprentices, as well as those aged under 25 with an education, health and care plan where that applies. 

An employer could also be entitled to the incentive payment when hiring an apprentice that has been made redundant, as long as they’re a new employee to the business and have not had a previous incentive claim.