Extra funding for Apprenticeships

Employers are being invited to apply for cash incentives to help them take on new apprentices and get more people into work, Apprenticeships and Skills Minister, Gillian Keegan has announced. As part of the Government’s Plan for Jobs, employers are being offered £2,000 for each new apprentice they hire, aged under 25, and £1,500 for each newly recruited apprentice aged 25 and over. This includes taking on an apprentice who has been made redundant.

Working during Furlough

A study by economists from Oxford and Cambridge universities has concluded that the majority of people who were furloughed have carried on working during lock-down, with men significantly more likely than women to flout the rules. It also found that women were significantly more likely to be furloughed than men doing the same type of job. It found that 75% of furloughed men had their wages topped up beyond the 80% provided by the government, but only 65% of women. 87% men and 77% of women who received a salary top up continued to work for their employer while on furlough, even though this was forbidden. Among those workers who didn’t receive a top up, 69% of men and 52% of women routinely worked.

Rise in the Interest Rate on Student Loans

Each year, student loan interest rates are calculated according to March’s Retail Price Index (RPI) figure, which this year was 2.6%, plus 3% on top; RPI was 2.4% last year. It came into force on 1st September and affects all new students in England and Wales, and graduates who took out loans since 2012. The increase comes at a time when the Bank of England base rate is just 0.1%. A student on a typical three-year course with fees of £9,250 a year and a £6,378 a year maintenance loan can expect to graduate with £46,884 of debt, before any cumulative interest is added.