Hire and Train your Team for Free? Apprentices Have Changed.

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Think apprenticeships are not for your business? Think again.

For many small businesses recruitment feels like an expense too far right now. You’re looking at Agency fees, advertising fees, training costs, onboarding and don’t mention Employer National Insurance. The risk of hiring someone who still needs development when margins are so tight, just doesn’t seem feasible.

But in April 2026 something changed around apprenticeships in the UK, and the numbers have shifted significantly in the favour of SMEs (and their potential apprentices).

What’s Changed

Previously, employers had to contribute 5% towards the apprenticeship training costs, while the government caught the remaining 95%. Not a bad deal, but now for apprentices aged under 25, eligible SMEs can access fully funded training, and the government will fund that training 100%.

At the same time, Employer National Insurance relief still applies to many apprentices under 25, meaning that the businesses do not pay Employer NI on qualifying earnings up to £50,270.

What this means in practical terms is that apprenticeships can be one of the most cost-effective ways to grow your team in 2026.

Apprenticeships Don’t Necessarily Mean School Leavers

We’re hearing a lot about NEETS (young people between the ages of 16-24 not in employment, education or training) at the moment, and while there are added benefits of employing young people in the age bracket, apprenticeships have moved on and are no longer just for school leavers.

Today’s apprenticeships cover high-level professional and technical qualifications including:

Leadership & Management (Level 3 or 5)
Digital Marketing & Data Analysis
Finance & Accounting (AAT/ACCA pathways)
AI & Automation Practitioners

And in many cases, businesses are not even hiring externally – they’re using apprenticeships to develop people already in the business. That means you can take a high-performing employee and put them through a professional management course, 100% funded by the government.

What could that look like for you?

A sales team member progressing into leadership
An administrator upskilling to digital marketing and operations
A junior finance employee completing an accounting qualification.

All of this gives businesses the option to build capability internally through employees they have already invested time and money in, rather than the expensive search for “finished” candidates.

Let’s Not Forget the NEETS

It may be that upskilling a current, older employee is the way to go for your business, but there are upsides to younger candidates as well. From October 1 2026, the government is offering £2,000 incentives to non-levy paying SMEs (annual payroll bill of less than £3m) for each new apprentice they hire aged between 16-24.

This incentive is not a discount or a credit, it’s paid directly to the business. In addition it can stack with existing support, so could potentially be combined with the young apprentice initiative which is worth £1,000 for businesses hiring an apprentice between 16-18. If your business qualifies for both, that’s a total of £3,000.

When you take all of this into consideration the apprenticeship system is starting to look less like a training scheme and more like a workforce strategy.

There is a catch to all of this, and that is that apprenticeships require around 20% off the job training. Which means that those learning hours must be protected during the working week, but that is time invested in your business as your apprentice builds up skillsets that will pay off in the long run, while also building on loyalty and retention.