Employers that hire apprentices will receive £2,500 ‘golden hello’

A £2,500 ‘golden hello’ for firms taking on apprentices is expected to be announced in a White Paper tomorrow.

The Getting Britain Back to Work White Paper, to be published by the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) and the Department for Children, Schools and Families (DCSF) is expected to reveal government plans to offer the payments to the first 5,000 companies that agree to employ and train a 16- or 17-year-old on an apprenticeship scheme, between January and April 2010.

The new incentive will be used to subsidise the minimum wage paid to apprentices in a bid to encourage more employers to engage with apprenticeships, the Guardian reported.

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A spokeswoman for the DWP told Personnel Today the White Paper would be “the last big set piece on unemployment that [the government] will do before the election”. However, she would not provide further details on the plan until the White Paper is published.

She added the paper would focus on youth unemployment and detail the “expansion of existing programmes”.