Andy Burnham, the Labour Party politician and Mayor of Greater Manchester, has outlined plans to provide a benefits top-up to parents to encourage their children to undertake apprenticeships. Presently, parents lose a portion of their HMRC Child Benefit once their children aged 16 or 17 leave full-time education. However, Mr Burnham proposes new grants aimed at preventing families from being financially discouraged from supporting vocational training routes like apprenticeships.
Under current regulations, when a child leaves approved education or training, the ‘child element’ within Universal Credit payments ceases. Families must report this change promptly through their Universal Credit online accounts. A recent report by the Social Security Advisory Committee found that some families can lose up to £339 a week when a teenager leaves education.
Pat McFadden, Secretary at the Department for Work and Pensions (DWP), has previously acknowledged that benefit rules can act as a deterrent for a “small number” of families. The proposed changes would prevent Universal Credit claimants from experiencing such financial losses.
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The Social Security Advisory Committee stated:
“For too many households, choosing a vocational pathway – one that the Government promotes as an equally valid route into adulthood – can trigger substantial losses in financial support.
These losses can reach levels that no realistic apprenticeship wage can offset. In the starkest cases, this creates pressures so acute that young people are discouraged from taking up apprenticeships or, in some instances, are forced to abandon them.”
Helen Whately, the Conservative Party shadow work and pensions secretary, criticised the current system, describing the incentives as “topsy-turvy” and warned they risk pushing young people towards long-term welfare dependency.
On BBC Panorama this Monday, Mr Burnham suggested that some benefit payments could become conditional on recipients engaging in opportunities presented to them. He stated, “It’s about changing the nature of the support and making some of it conditional on people taking opportunities that are presented.
So you might increase the conditions required to receive benefits.”
He also acknowledged that many young adults have been let down by insufficient support before losing work, adding, “We’ve got to get really serious as a country at getting the welfare bill down.”