Leading North West Apprenticeship provider, Alliance Learning, wants small and medium sized businesses in the North West to get in touch urgently and apply for their share of a new £60m government grant which has been launched to support the recruitment of Apprentices.

The National Apprenticeship Service will provide up to 40,000 grants of £1,500 to small and medium sized businesses who recruit 16 to 24 year olds on an Apprenticeship programme for the first time.

The grant of £1,500 is in addition to the training costs of the Apprenticeship framework which are met in full for young people aged 16 to 18 and 50% for those aged 19 to 24.

The Apprenticeship Grant for Employers (AGE) is available to 40,000 small and medium sized businesses across the UK and will be awarded on a first come, first served basis. Alliance Learning are urging North West businesses to get in touch as soon as possible to make sure they benefit from this new financial incentive.

Paul Cocker, Operations Executive at Alliance Learning, told us:

'The announcement of this new grant is fantastic news for employers who have been considering taking on an Apprentice. 

'Times are tough for small and medium sized businesses at the moment and we recognise that they face a number of barriers when it comes to recruiting new members of staff. This added financial incentive from the National Apprenticeship Service will hopefully help many more employers engage with and benefit from Apprenticeship schemes for the first time.'

Apprenticeships offer a number of benefits to businesses including: reduced recruitment and training costs, increased productivity, reduced skills shortages, improved competitiveness and a committed a competent work-force.

Paul continues:

'Alliance Learning already has over 200 pre-assessed candidates on a waiting list, all of whom are highly qualified, enthusiastic, motivated and eager to learn new skills in the workplace ' the perfect employee in many cases.

'Forward thinking businesses who are interested in taking on an apprentice and want to benefit from the new £1,500 grant should get in touch with our Apprenticeship Team straight away as places are limited. 

'Employers will be assigned a dedicated Recruitment Officer  who will provide help and advice through every step of the process of taking on an Apprentice ' from advertising vacancies free of charge, proving help with short-listing and interviews, through to planning a training programme that meets your business needs and monitoring the Apprentice throughout their studies.

'There has never been a better time to sign up to our leading Apprenticeship scheme.'

For further information contact our Apprenticeship Recruitment Team on 01204 677888 or email info@alliancelearning.com.