Labour pledges new opportunities for young people to earn and learn in the East with plan to create 8271 apprenticeships

Labour has pledged new opportunities for young people in the East to earn and learn with a plan to create 8271 new apprenticeships across the region.

Labour’s plan would see a wage subsidy boosting capacity for local employers to take on young apprentices aged 16 – 24 creating new training opportunities to fuel our economic recovery from Covid.

Under the Conservatives apprenticeship starts have declined by 8% across the East, with 4,400 opportunities disappearing in the past decade. Young people have been particularly hit with starts among people aged under 25 declining 40% in five years.

With apprentice numbers falling large portions of the apprenticeships levy – paid by big employers to government – are going unspent. In 2020/21, £1.3 billion of levy funds is set to be return to the Treasury. Labour’s plan would use £377 million of this to help employers cover 100,000 new apprentices’ wages, including 8271 in the East for their first year in the job.