Source · Select Committees · Education Committee
Second Report - Educational poverty: how children in residential care have been let down and what to do about it
Education Committee
HC 57
Published 8 July 2022
Recommendations
52
Rejected
Where a care leaver is over 25, and an apprenticeship would be their first qualification...
Recommendation
Where a care leaver is over 25, and an apprenticeship would be their first qualification since leaving compulsory education, the Department must raise the age limit for receipt of the £1,000 apprenticeship bursary from age 25 to age 30. This …
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Government Response Summary
The government believes that 25 is a reasonable point of transition and that targeting support on care leavers aged 18–24 to help them as they move to independent living is the best use of resources, so they will not raise the age limit for the apprenticeship bursary.
Department for Education
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Conclusions (1)
51
Conclusion
Rejected
Para 121
Just 2% of care leavers go on to do an apprenticeship. To address this, the Department must strategically weigh the apprenticeship levy in favour of care-experienced young apprentices under age 25. Too much of the levy is going unspent, the Department reports that £250 million was unspent in 2020/21. Unspent …
Government Response Summary
The government acknowledges the barriers faced by care leavers in apprenticeships and describes existing bursaries and employer incentives. However, it rejects weighing the apprenticeship levy in favor of care-experienced young apprentices and increasing the apprentice minimum wage, stating that employers should pay wages and the Low Pay Commission sets minimum wages.