New funding for traineeship scheme announced
An extra £20m is being made available to the government’s new Traineeships programme to support even more young people into Apprenticeships and other jobs. The additional funding was announced as Skills Minister Matthew Hancock travelled to Nottingham to meet young people already taking part in the scheme.
Traineeships, which began in August, provide 16 to 23-year-olds with the skills, experience and confidence to compete in the labour market – helping them secure Apprenticeships or other jobs. More than 500 providers have pledged to take on trainees this year and so far 150 companies, both large and small, have all expressed an interest in offering placements to young people. They include household names such as BAE Systems, Siemens and Virgin Media.
Traineeships are an joint education and training programme of the Department for Business, Innovation & Skills and the Department for Education. These are part of the government’s wider aim to ensure the future workforce possess the skills employers want in their employees.
Traineeships last a maximum of 6 months and provide:
- work preparation training such as interview preparation and CV writing
- support to improve English and maths skills
- a high-quality work experience placement (between 6 weeks and 5 months)
- training from providers who are rated ‘Outstanding’ or ‘Good’ by Ofsted
