The group’s Learning Solutions arm welcomes Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s announcement yesterday that the government is implementing additional measures to support jobs. A total of £1.6 billion will be invested in scaling up employment support schemes, training and apprenticeships to help people looking for a job. The group’s Learning Solutions arm is the specialist Insurance & Financial Services apprenticeship provider, advising levy paying employers on how they can utilise their levy funds to support their training needs by using apprenticeship programmes.

The Insurance market has been proactively looking to develop grassroots and diverse talent for some time.  This latest funding announcement will help financial services and insurance firms to attract and develop young people into an industry that they may not have considered joining before.

Employers within the insurance sector often don’t realise how much levy funding they have accumulated, having not previously used it. This will build up month on month but if not used within two years the money is forfeited.  There has never been a better time to utilise levy funding and the latest financial government support to effectively underpin the skills and development of employees.

The additional funding will support the skills and employment of young people and create opportunities following the impact of COVID-19. From August 2020 to January 2021, any organisation that recruits a young person onto an apprenticeship programme aged 16 to 24 will receive £2,000, while those that hire new apprentices aged 25 and over will be paid £1,500.

These payments will be in addition to the existing £1,000 incentive the government already provides for new 16 to 18 year-old apprentices, and those aged under 25 with an education, health and care plan where that applies.

It means that employers could receive up to £3,000 for hiring 16 to 18 year old apprentices during the six month incentive scheme up to their 19^th birthday.

Marcus Bowsher, Davies Managing Director of Learning Solutions commented “This is great news and a very welcome boost for firms considering employing new staff in the early stages of emerging from lockdown. We are on hand to guide employers in the insurance and financial services sector to make the most of this latest opportunity”.