Department for Work and Pensions

DWP recognises the important role that the trade unions can play in a modern workplace, including the benefits that effective engagement between employers and unions can bring.

Colleagues working on the Young People and Work Report continue to engage with trade union representatives.

As part of the report, Alan Milburn is engaging with a range of fellow experts in the labour market, education, welfare and health spheres, as well as employers and people with lived experience to inform the findings and recommendations.

The Department is committed to ensuring that the next phase of Disability Confident reform is shaped by the lived experience of disabled people and disabled people’s organisations.

As set out in the Disability Confident Reform Delivery Plan the reformed scheme will embed disabled people’s voices throughout design, testing and evaluation. This includes planned engagement through qualitative interviews, surveys, and employee feedback mechanisms, ensuring that reforms reflect the real experiences of disabled employees and those with long-term health conditions.

We will also work directly with disabled people and disabled people’s organisations as part of our stakeholder engagement work. Their expertise will inform the development and testing of strengthened standards, verification processes and tools, with opportunities to contribute through engagement sessions, workshops and ongoing feedback loops.

Taken together, these measures will ensure that disabled people and the organisations representing them have clear and meaningful opportunities to shape the next phase of Disability Confident reform.

The assessment of entitlement to Housing Benefit and Local Council Tax Support takes into account a person’s net income plus the value of any DWP benefits they receive.

Taxation is a matter for HMRC. It treats pension income, whether State or occupational, in the same way as other taxable income. However, the Chancellor has said that over this Parliament those whose only income is the basic or new State Pension without any increments will not have to pay income tax.

The government will set out more detail in due course.

No new guidance has been issued to local authorities on this matter.

The assessment of entitlement to Housing Benefit and Local Council Tax Support takes into account a person’s net income plus the value of any DWP benefits they receive.

Taxation is a matter for HMRC. It treats pension income, whether State or occupational, in the same way as other taxable income. However, the Chancellor has said that over this Parliament those whose only income is the basic or new State Pension without any increments will not have to pay income tax.

The government will set out more detail in due course.

No new guidance has been issued to local authorities on this matter.

The assessment of entitlement to Housing Benefit and Local Council Tax Support takes into account a person’s net income plus the value of any DWP benefits they receive.

Taxation is a matter for HMRC. It treats pension income, whether State or occupational, in the same way as other taxable income. However, the Chancellor has said that over this Parliament those whose only income is the basic or new State Pension without any increments will not have to pay income tax.

The government will set out more detail in due course.

No new guidance has been issued to local authorities on this matter.

The assessment of entitlement to Housing Benefit and Local Council Tax Support takes into account a person’s net income plus the value of any DWP benefits they receive.

Taxation is a matter for HMRC. It treats pension income, whether State or occupational, in the same way as other taxable income. However, the Chancellor has said that over this Parliament those whose only income is the basic or new State Pension without any increments will not have to pay income tax.

The government will set out more detail in due course.

No new guidance has been issued to local authorities on this matter.

The assessment of entitlement to Housing Benefit and Local Council Tax Support takes into account a person’s net income plus the value of any DWP benefits they receive.

Taxation is a matter for HMRC. It treats pension income, whether State or occupational, in the same way as other taxable income. However, the Chancellor has said that over this Parliament those whose only income is the basic or new State Pension without any increments will not have to pay income tax.

The government will set out more detail in due course.

No new guidance has been issued to local authorities on this matter.

The assessment of entitlement to Housing Benefit and Local Council Tax Support takes into account a person’s net income plus the value of any DWP benefits they receive.

Taxation is a matter for HMRC. It treats pension income, whether State or occupational, in the same way as other taxable income. However, the Chancellor has said that over this Parliament those whose only income is the basic or new State Pension without any increments will not have to pay income tax.

The government will set out more detail in due course.

No new guidance has been issued to local authorities on this matter.

The assessment of entitlement to Housing Benefit and Local Council Tax Support takes into account a person’s net income plus the value of any DWP benefits they receive.

Taxation is a matter for HMRC. It treats pension income, whether State or occupational, in the same way as other taxable income. However, the Chancellor has said that over this Parliament those whose only income is the basic or new State Pension without any increments will not have to pay income tax.

The government will set out more detail in due course.

No new guidance has been issued to local authorities on this matter.

The information requested is not readily available and to provide it would incur disproportionate cost.

We have been clear that the Sayce review into earnings related Carer’s Allowance overpayments was not a substitute for legal proceedings. The report’s findings do not prejudice business-as-usual activity by DWP. The department must balance fairness for unpaid carers and its duty to taxpayers.

The department’s guidance on averaging earnings, for those with fluctuating earnings, did not accurately reflect the legislation between 2015 and summer 2025. We are, in response, planning a reassessment exercise. Overpayment recovery work will continue during the reassessment exercise. Should reassessment lead to an amended decision in an individual case, we will adjust entitlement to Carer’s Allowance and take the appropriate action depending on the customer’s circumstances. We will set out more details about the reassessment exercise in the coming weeks.

For anyone who has had an overpayment, DWP’s Debt Management Service is available to discuss their repayment terms.

The Pathways to Work Green Paper outlined our plan to end the link between capacity to work and additional financial support and the binary categorisation of claimants as “can or can’t work” by abolishing the Work Capability Assessment (WCA). Instead, any extra financial support for health conditions in Universal Credit (UC) will be assessed via a single assessment – the Personal Independence Payment (PIP) assessment (in England and Wales) – and be based on the impact of disability on daily living, not on capacity to work.

Due to its link with the PIP assessment, WCA abolition will not take place until after the Timms Review into PIP has reported. We are currently considering how the future system will operate and will provide further information in due course.

Statutory Sick Pay (SSP) is designed to balance support for an individual when they are unable to work due to sickness or ill health, with the costs to employers of providing this support. The Government is strengthening SSP as part of our plan to Make Work Pay, ensuring the safety net of sick pay is available to those who need it most. We are doing this through the Employment Rights Act. From 6 April this year the changes we are making include:

• Removing the Lower Earnings Limit so more low-paid employees qualify.
• Removing the waiting period so SSP is paid from the first day of sickness.

As a result, up to 1.3 million low-paid employees will become eligible for SSP. The removal of the three-day waiting period will mean that all employees receive at least £60 extra at the start of their sickness absence. According to the Government’s impact assessment, these changes will also increase the total amount of sick pay paid to employees by approximately £420 million per year.

For PIP awards, we always aim to make an award decision as quickly as possible, taking into account the need to review all available evidence, including that from the claimant.  In most instances PIP awards can be backdated to the date of claim. 

PIP waiting times have decreased since August 2021, with the latest statistics showing that the average end-to-end journey has reduced from 26 weeks in August 2021 to 16 weeks at the end of October 2025.

The Department is currently advising applicants submitting a new Access to Work grant that the estimated waiting time for their application to be reviewed is up to 30 weeks.

Applications from individuals who have a job starting in the next four weeks, or who are renewing existing support, are prioritised.

We have interpreted this question as referring to the average processing time from the date an application is submitted to the date a decision is made. The current average processing time for access to work is 100.5 days from April 2025 to January 2026.

We are committed to reducing processing times. We also prioritise applications from customers who are due to start work within the next four weeks, as well as renewals for existing grants, to minimise disruption to employment.

In March 2025, the Department published the Pathways to Work Green Paper, launching a consultation on the future of Access to Work and how the scheme can better support disabled people in employment. We are reviewing all aspects of the programme as we develop plans for reform following the conclusion of the consultation.

Please note that the data supplied is derived from unpublished management information, which was collected for internal Departmental use only, and have not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard.

Access to Work staff are trained to take account of the customer’s own declaration of the support they need within the context of the Access to Work regulations. If more information is required to determine an award, a workplace assessment referral is made to an external partner to provide recommendations for the provision of equipment or support.

The support that a customer will receive from Access to Work is dependent upon their needs and circumstances at the time they make an application. Case managers will use the guidance to ensure Access to Work principles are considered when making a decision on support. No changes have been made to Access to Work policy.

Access to Work (AtW) operates as a reimbursement grant, which means that the service or support must be provided before any payment can be made. Once AtW support has been approved, the customer can then submit their claim for payment. Customers have up to nine months to submit claims for their approved costs. As a result, on any individual day, there will always be claims awaiting review and payment. On average, we are currently processing and clearing claims within 13 days. We have plans in place to reduce this to 10 days.

As of the 1st of February 2026, there were 16,389 payment claims being processed.

As of the 1st of October 2025, there were 9,103 payment claims being processed.

As of the 1st of April 2025, there were 28,499 payment claims being processed.

Please note that the data supplied is derived from unpublished management information, which was collected for internal Departmental use only, and have not been quality assured to National Statistics or Official Statistics publication standard.

The Government carefully considered the findings of the Ombudsman’s report on the communication of changes to women’s State Pension age, and a detailed response including an Equality Analysis has been deposited in the House library.

WorkWell is a health and employment support service providing integrated holistic early help for people with disabilities and/or health conditions to address their health-related barriers to work. The WorkWell pilot phase launched in October 2024 in 15 areas in England and so far has supported approximately 25,000 people to stay in and re-enter work.

In January 2026 we announced that following the pilot, WorkWell will continue to be delivered in existing sites and expand across all of England. The expansion is backed by up to £259 million investment over three years and could support up to 250,000 people.

WorkWell is a voluntary service with broad eligibility criteria; participants do not need to be claiming any Government benefits to be eligible and can access WorkWell through multiple routes including employer referrals, GP referrals, Jobcentre Plus, local services, or self-referral.

An evaluation of the pilot is underway to measure the ongoing effectiveness of WorkWell and will include an independent consortium of evaluators using surveys, interviews and econometric measures of success. The evaluation will consider several variables, including reported health conditions (both physical and mental health) and earnings. Outcomes for participants are monitored across the length of the pilot, and for a further 2 years. A final report in Autumn 2028 will aim to give full assessment of impact of the pilot, including potential sustainment of employment impacts. A similar evaluation will be commissioned for the national rollout of WorkWell. The learnings from these evaluations will inform any future expansion decisions.

The Department keeps communications with customers under constant review.

We notify individuals of decisions about their benefit, which ensures that they know how much they are entitled to and when and how payment will be made. Letters also inform claimants about their legal responsibilities, such as having to report relevant changes and their legal rights, such as the right of appeal. Individuals' circumstances do change and not everybody receives the same rate of payment every year.

The Secretary of State reviewed the 2007 Report on Automatic Pension Forecasts before coming to his decision on the Ombudsman’s investigation.

The 2007 Report concluded that “overall…the evidence suggests negligible influence of the APF on pensions knowledge and retirement planning behaviour”, and around this time the Department stopped sending Automatic Pension Forecasts.

We have placed the 2007 report in the House library, where it can be read in full. The report is also available here: Evaluation of Automatic State Pension Forecasts.

When we have assurances that the service is safe, secure and thoroughly user-tested, the Secretary of State will provide industry 6 months’ notice ahead of the launch of the government-backed MoneyHelper Pensions Dashboard. Insights gained from the launch and operation of the MoneyHelper Pensions Dashboard will help inform the launch date of private sector pensions dashboards.

Foodbanks are independent, charitable organisations and the Department for Work and Pensions does not have any role in their operation and therefore does not hold data on the number of foodbanks in operation.

The Government recognises that the level of household food insecurity in the UK is unacceptable. We have already announced action to expand free school meals, support parents with the cost of healthy food outside of school and transform our food system to ensure it delivers access to affordable, healthy food.  Our plan to Make Work Pay is part of the mission to grow the economy, raise living standards across the country and create opportunities for all.

To further support struggling households, £742 million of funding was provided to enable the extension of the Household Support Fund from 1 April 2025 to 31 March 2026 in England, plus additional funding for the Devolved Governments through the Barnett formula to be spent at their discretion.

From 1 April 2026, we are introducing a new Crisis and Resilience Fund in England. This fund aims to enable local authorities to provide preventative support to communities as well as assisting people when faced with a financial crisis, to support our ambition to end mass dependence on emergency food parcels.

The Government has also taken further action to support low-income households including through the increase in the National Living Wage to £12.21 an hour from April 2025, boosting the pay of 3 million workers.

I refer the Hon. Member to the answer I gave on 19 December 2025 to Question UIN 99275.

We are giving local areas greater control of the delivery of Skills Bootcamps in line with our commitment to devolution; supporting areas to use Skills Bootcamps to more closely meet the needs of their local employers and economies.

As part of this, a new funding model for local areas from 2026-27 will ensure the distribution of funding remains fit for purpose and sustainable as the programme matures.

Under devolution, local areas are the commissioners of Skills Bootcamps and can plan provision according to local skills priorities. They are responsible for decisions relating to the allocation of funding to individual providers in line with their preferred commissioning method.

We will continue to work with local areas on the implementation of the new funding methodology.

We are giving local areas greater control of the delivery of Skills Bootcamps in line with our commitment to devolution; supporting areas to use Skills Bootcamps to more closely meet the needs of their local employers and economies.

As part of this, a new funding model for local areas from 2026-27 will ensure the distribution of funding remains fit for purpose and sustainable as the programme matures.

Under devolution, local areas are the commissioners of Skills Bootcamps and can plan provision according to local skills priorities. They are responsible for decisions relating to the allocation of funding to individual providers in line with their preferred commissioning method.

We will continue to work with local areas on the implementation of the new funding methodology.

We are giving local areas greater control of the delivery of Skills Bootcamps in line with our commitment to devolution; supporting areas to use Skills Bootcamps to more closely meet the needs of their local employers and economies.

As part of this, a new funding model for local areas from 2026-27 will ensure the distribution of funding remains fit for purpose and sustainable as the programme matures.

Under devolution, local areas are the commissioners of Skills Bootcamps and can plan provision according to local skills priorities. They are responsible for decisions relating to the allocation of funding to individual providers in line with their preferred commissioning method.

We will continue to work with local areas on the implementation of the new funding methodology.

We are giving local areas greater control of the delivery of Skills Bootcamps in line with our commitment to devolution; supporting areas to use Skills Bootcamps to more closely meet the needs of their local employers and economies.

As part of this, a new funding model for local areas from 2026-27 will ensure the distribution of funding remains fit for purpose and sustainable as the programme matures.

Under devolution, local areas are the commissioners of Skills Bootcamps and can plan provision according to local skills priorities. They are responsible for decisions relating to the allocation of funding to individual providers in line with their preferred commissioning method.

We will continue to work with local areas on the implementation of the new funding methodology.

We are giving local areas greater control of the delivery of Skills Bootcamps in line with our commitment to devolution; supporting areas to use Skills Bootcamps to more closely meet the needs of their local employers and economies.

As part of this, a new funding model for local areas from 2026-27 will ensure the distribution of funding remains fit for purpose and sustainable as the programme matures.

Under devolution, local areas are the commissioners of Skills Bootcamps and can plan provision according to local skills priorities. They are responsible for decisions relating to the allocation of funding to individual providers in line with their preferred commissioning method.

We will continue to work with local areas on the implementation of the new funding methodology.

We are giving local areas greater control of the delivery of Skills Bootcamps in line with our commitment to devolution; supporting areas to use Skills Bootcamps to more closely meet the needs of their local employers and economies.

As part of this, a new funding model for local areas from 2026-27 will ensure the distribution of funding remains fit for purpose and sustainable as the programme matures.

Under devolution, local areas are the commissioners of Skills Bootcamps and can plan provision according to local skills priorities. They are responsible for decisions relating to the allocation of funding to individual providers in line with their preferred commissioning method.

We will continue to work with local areas on the implementation of the new funding methodology.

Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates are annually reviewed, usually in the Autumn. At Autumn budget 2025, the Secretary of State for Work and Pensions reviewed LHA and announced that rates would be maintained at their current levels for 2026/27. Rent levels across Great Britian were considered alongside other factors such as the challenging fiscal context and welfare priorities, including the removal of the two-child limit which will bring 450,000 children out of poverty.

Renters facing a shortfall in meeting their housing costs can apply for Discretionary Housing Payments (DHPs) from local authorities. From April 2026 DHPs for England will be incorporated into the Crisis and Resilience Fund.

Pension schemes are under legal obligations to provide key information to members. Schemes should ensure that all communications are accurate, clear, concise, relevant and in plain English.

Simpler Annual Benefit Statements, introduced in 2022, make defined contribution automatic‑enrolment pension statements shorter and more consistent, helping members see what they’ve saved; what they might have at retirement; and what actions they can take.

When launched, pensions dashboards will allow people to view their pensions, including State Pension, securely and in one place online. Dashboards will include clear contextual information alongside the values shown, supported by user testing, to ensure the information is easy to understand.

Decision making about how to use pension assets to secure an income can be complex. The Guided Retirement provisions in the Pension Schemes Bill require trustees to provide information in plain and simple language to support informed member decision making. The Government intends to consult on the Guided Retirement communications journey, ensuring that communications are structured, accessible, and delivered at the right points to help savers understand both the default pension plan and the options available to them.

The Government ensures everyone has access to free, impartial pensions guidance through the Money and Pensions Service (MaPS).

UK State Pensions are payable worldwide, without regard to nationality, and are only uprated abroad where there is a legal requirement to do so, for example in countries with which we have a reciprocal agreement that provides for uprating.

The policy on uprating UK State Pension paid overseas is a longstanding one and has been in place for over 70 years. Over many years, priority has been given to those living in the United Kingdom when drawing up expenditure plans for additional pensioner benefits.

The government is investing over £1.5 billion in tackling youth unemployment and inactivity, including £820 million for the expanded Youth Guarantee and £725 million for the Growth and Skills Levy. This will provide young people aged 16–24 with greater support into work and learning, including a Jobs Guarantee offering fully subsidised paid work for every 18–21-year-old on Universal Credit for 18 months.

In line with the Government’s December 2025 announcement, the Jobs Guarantee will begin its rollout from Spring 2026 in 6 areas which have some of the highest need, including Birmingham and Solihull.

The first 6 months of the Jobs Guarantee scheme will provide over 1000 job starts across the 6 areas.

National roll-out of the Jobs Guarantee across Great Britain will take place later in 2026. The programme is expected to support around 55,000 young people over the next three years, contributing to this government’s long-term ambition to increase employment and reduce long-term youth unemployment.

This Government is taking action to ensure young people have clear pathways into work, with opportunities that build skills, confidence and long-term employability.

In addition, through the expanded Youth Guarantee, we are creating around 300,000 additional opportunities for young people to gain workplace experience and training.

This includes up to 150,000 extra work experience placements and up to 145,000 bespoke training opportunities designed with employers through our Sector based Work Academy Programmes, or SWAPs. These programmes provide young people with real, practical experience linked to vacancies in priority sectors, improving their prospects of moving quickly into work.

Data on fraud and error overpayments is published annually and can be found using the following link: Fraud and error in the benefit system - GOV.UK. 2024/25 estimates show that Carer's Allowance Overpayments relating to earnings/employment represented 1.3% of the £4.2bn expenditure on Carer’s Allowance.

A further breakdown as requested is not published as part of any official statistical release.

The Government inherited a system where some busy carers, already struggling under a huge weight of caring responsibilities, have found themselves with unexpected debts due to earnings-related overpayments of Carer’s Allowance which they were asked to pay back. This only affected some of the relatively small number of Carer’s Allowance claimants who also do paid work, but the impact on some of these unpaid carers has been significant.

The Government appointed Liz Sayce OBE to lead an Independent Review into the matter. The Review’s report, which we published on 25 November 2025, alongside the Government’s response, has been invaluable in assessing how these overpayments have arisen; what can be done to support unpaid carers who have incurred debts in the past; and how further overpayments can be minimised in future.

The Review has shown that mistakes were made, and we are determined to put them right. The Government has welcomed the report and is accepting or partially accepting 38 out of the 40 recommendations. In some cases, the changes the report is asking for have already been made. Others will take more time to put in place.

The department agrees the guidance on averaging earnings between 2015 and summer 2025 did not accurately reflect the statutory position with respect to those with fluctuating earnings. That is why we are putting steps in place to run a reassessment exercise. This exercise will begin later this year, and we will communicate details on how this will work in due course.

No formal assessment has been made, but work is ongoing to expand the benefit sanction statistics, detailed below, to allow analysis in the future.

The Department regularly publishes Universal Credit sanction rate statistics for Great Britain as part of the benefit sanction statistics. These include a breakdown of the sanction rate by ethnic group and an analysis of the sanction ethnicity statistics which can be found at section 5 of the latest publication.

The Department also published an ad-hoc analysis in February 2025 of the Variation in the Universal Credit sanction rate by jobcentres using the UC Sanction Rate dataset on Stat-Xplore.

The ‘Benefit sanction statistics to August 2025’ and the ‘Variation in the Universal Credit sanction rate by jobcentres from January 2017 to August 2024’ are provided in the attached PDF documents.

The volume of Personal Independence Payment (PIP) recipients in each specified year who made their first successful claim over the age of 60 is shown in the table below.

Table 1: Volume of claimants aged over 60 who made a successful PIP claim for the very first time by year

Notes:

- Values have been rounded to the nearest 10.

- Values are for claimants under DWP Policy Ownership only (England, Wales or Abroad).

- Data is provided in calendar years, starting on 1st January and ending on 31st December.

- Data only includes claimants aged 61 and above.

- Claimants included in the table are those receiving PIP for the very first time. Claimants who have received PIP in the past and have rejoined after turning 61 have not been included.

Information about hours worked by Personal Independence Payment (PIP) claimants is not collected and held centrally by the Department.

There are strict rules that govern who can access benefits. Parents who are not British or Irish nationals can only access Universal Credit with a valid immigration status of a kind that gives them the right to access public funds. Most migrants with temporary visas cannot access the benefit system. Access to public funds and benefits is usually at the point of settlement, which for most people will be after they have lived in the UK legally for five years, and the Home Office Earned Settlement policy consultation is looking at increasing this to ten years. The Home Office is also consulting on changing the default position to maintain No Recourse to Public Funds at settlement and lifting this only at the point of British citizenship. This would mean that migrants would need to wait longer to access benefits.

DWP also plans to consult on changes to the benefit rules to prioritise access for those who are making an economic contribution to the UK. The consultation will look at how the benefit rules apply to everyone arriving or returning to the UK.

Based on the information held, since December 2024, the recorded legal costs on litigation brought by WASPI including disbursements and VAT are £149,409.74.

Where a complaint is raised by an MP, it is referred to the DWP Complaints Team who will investigate the complaint and aim to resolve it within 15 working days. If the matter is complex and will take longer than 15 days, the complaints resolution manager will keep the MP updated and tell them when they can expect a response. Upon completion of the investigation, a full written response will be issued to the MP via their designated Parliament.uk secure email address.

In terms of dealing with matters quickly, it may be possible with MP agreement to do a telephone resolution and this can be followed up with a written response if requested.

The total number of non-levy employers that received a transfer from a levy-paying employer in the 2023-24 financial year is 6,348. The proportion of non-levy employers that had an active apprenticeship service account that received a payment in the 2023-24 financial year, that received transfers was 5.9%.

This information is based on providers that received payments for non-levy employer learners for the 2023-24 financial year.

Non-levy paying employers are not required to register for an apprenticeship service account; the data we hold is therefore not a reflection of all non-levy paying employers in England. Additionally, not all non-levy paying employers that are registered for an apprenticeship service account will employ apprentices and receive payments for them each year.

The apprenticeship funding rules for the 2023/24 and 2024/25 academic years, which include information on employer co-investment, are published here Apprenticeship funding rules - GOV.UK.

Since April 2024, the government has fully funded apprenticeship training costs up to the funding band maximum for non-levy paying employers for apprentices aged 16-21 and apprentices aged 22-24 who have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) or have been, or are, in local authority care. For all other apprentices, employers that do not pay the levy are required to co-invest 5% towards apprentice training costs, unless they are in receipt of a levy transfer which covers that cost.

From August 2026, the government will fully fund apprenticeship training for non-levy paying employers for all eligible people aged 16-24. For all other apprentices, employers that do not pay the levy will be required to co-invest 5% towards apprentice training costs, unless they are in receipt of a levy transfer which covers that cost.

The maximum that non-levy payers are required to co-invest in apprentices’ training costs is 5%.

The government pays £1,000 to both employers and providers for apprentices aged 16-18, and for apprentices aged 19-24 who have an EHCP or have been, or are, in local authority care. On top of this, employers will receive additional payments of up to £2,000 for eligible foundation apprenticeships. Additionally, employers are not required to pay anything towards employees’ National Insurance for all apprentices aged up to age 25 (when the employee’s wage is below £50,270 a year).

The apprenticeship funding rules for the 2023/24 and 2024/25 academic years, which include information on employer co-investment, are published here Apprenticeship funding rules - GOV.UK.

Since April 2024, the government has fully funded apprenticeship training costs up to the funding band maximum for non-levy paying employers for apprentices aged 16-21 and apprentices aged 22-24 who have an Education, Health and Care Plan (EHCP) or have been, or are, in local authority care. For all other apprentices, employers that do not pay the levy are required to co-invest 5% towards apprentice training costs, unless they are in receipt of a levy transfer which covers that cost.

From August 2026, the government will fully fund apprenticeship training for non-levy paying employers for all eligible people aged 16-24. For all other apprentices, employers that do not pay the levy will be required to co-invest 5% towards apprentice training costs, unless they are in receipt of a levy transfer which covers that cost.

The maximum that non-levy payers are required to co-invest in apprentices’ training costs is 5%.

The government pays £1,000 to both employers and providers for apprentices aged 16-18, and for apprentices aged 19-24 who have an EHCP or have been, or are, in local authority care. On top of this, employers will receive additional payments of up to £2,000 for eligible foundation apprenticeships. Additionally, employers are not required to pay anything towards employees’ National Insurance for all apprentices aged up to age 25 (when the employee’s wage is below £50,270 a year).