In a press release published on 1 October 2026, the Department for Work and Pensions set out a £2,000 payment for non-levy paying employers, typically small and medium-sized businesses, for each new young apprentice taken on. Eligible apprentices must be 16 to 24 at the start of training, or 15 where their 16th birthday falls between the last Friday of June and 31 August, and must have started their job no more than 90 days before training began.

Employers would not apply for the payment. Training providers would pass it on in two instalments of £1,000: the first 90 days after the apprenticeship started, and the second one year after, or after 242 days for shorter and foundation apprenticeships. Payment depended on the apprentice still being employed when each instalment was due. The release also described a refreshed apprenticeships.gov.uk site and an expansion of the Apprenticeship Brokerage pilot to all existing mayors within a Strategic Authority across England, backed by £100 million over two years.

The government linked the measures to a stated aim of 50,000 more youth apprenticeships. Work and Pensions Secretary Pat McFadden and Business Secretary Jonathan Reynolds commented in the release, as did Craig Beaumont of the Federation of Small Businesses, which backed the incentive.