Benefit claimants set to rake in £4.5k a year if their child starts an apprenticeship under Andy Burnham’s latest plans

PARENTS on benefits will get up to £4,500 a year if their child takes up an apprenticeship under Andy Burnham’s plans to get more youngsters into work. The new bursary is designed to stop families being left worse off when a teenager starts earning. Andy Burnham meets with apprentices and graduates at Alstom Transport in Derbyshire Credit: Crown Copyright From August, the Government will fully fund apprenticeship training for all eligible under-25s Credit: AP The move comes as more than one million young people are currently not in education, employment or training. From August, the Government will also fully fund apprenticeship training for all eligible under-25s. Sign up for the Politics newsletter Thank you! Small firms will receive up to £8,000 to help take on young apprentices as ministers aim to create 50,000 new youth apprenticeships by the end of this Parliament. An extra £287million will also create more than 22,000 new college places, including expanded construction courses to train future bricklayers, plumbers and decorators. The announcement follows the PM’s wider plans to overhaul education by giving teenagers more technical learning, work experience and courses designed around local employers. Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden said: “Every young person deserves the chance to build a future they can be proud of. “Our welfare system should be a springboard to opportunity, not a barrier to it.” It comes as Labour MPs threatened a fresh welfare rebellion after Mr Burnham warned benefit claimants they could face tougher hurdles to get their cash. Most read in The Sun The PM is considering making support conditional on under-25s engaging with work, education or community projects as ministers battle Britain’s soaring £333billion welfare bill. But left-wing backbenchers warned they would oppose any “punitive” reforms, raising the prospect of another Commons revolt. Liverpool Riverside MP Kim Johnson told Bloomberg: “If the new leadership believes it can revive the failed politics of welfare cuts instead of asking the wealthiest to pay their fair share, it will be repeating not only Keir Starmer’s mistakes but 14 years of Tory austerity. “If the first instinct of a new leadership is to target disabled people and low-income families rather than challenge the wealth and inequality at the top of society, then nothing has been learnt.” Former shadow chancellor John McDonnell insisted welfare reform should be based on “positive support” rather than “punitive sanction”. The warning comes after Sir Keir Starmer was forced into a humiliating climbdown last year when more than 100 MPs rebelled against plans to tighten disability benefit rules. Despite the backlash, Mr McFadden insisted there should be an “expectation to engage” if young people are offered opportunities through the welfare system. 2 comments2