Youth employment drive 2026: policy tracker for training providers

Last updated: 15 July 2026

How to use this tracker

Use the status labels below before briefing an employer or candidate. Open means an application or referral route is live. Live phase one means delivery is limited to named areas or cohorts. Published future change means rules exist but the eligible start date has not arrived.

Status at 15 July 2026

• Youth Jobs Grant — open: employer applications opened across Great Britain on 30 June.
• Jobs Guarantee — phase one live: the first phase began in April in six areas. The national Great Britain rollout is planned from November.
• National delivery-partner procurement — closed: applications ran from 9 June to 13 July at 09:00. Organisations cannot submit a late bid through that round.
• Youth Guarantee Journey — live: after an April launch in the first 81 Jobcentres, DWP reported rollout to all Jobcentres by the end of June.
• Young-apprentice training support — published for 1 August: eligible 16–24 starts at non-levy employers receive 100% eligible training and assessment funding up to the band maximum.
• Apprenticeship hiring payment — published for 1 October: qualifying non-levy employers can receive £2,000 for eligible new 16–24 apprentice hires.
• Foundation apprenticeships and named apprenticeship units — live: the hospitality and retail foundation products and the first approved units are available, subject to their product pages and rules.

Youth Jobs Grant: open across Great Britain

The Youth Jobs Grant supports employers that recruit an eligible 18–24-year-old who has been on Universal Credit for at least six months and is looking for work. Employers may receive up to £3,000 per eligible job, paid in stages when conditions are met. Funding is subject to availability.

• Organisations of any size can apply, including sole traders intending to employ staff, provided they meet the scheme checks.
• The job must provide at least 25 hours a week, last at least four months and pay at least the applicable minimum wage.
• It must be a genuine, lawful and safe job and must not replace an existing worker.
• Employers apply through Find a Grant. DWP assesses the application; an approved employer can then submit vacancies and recruit.

A provider can signpost official guidance and support recruitment or separately funded learning where authorised. It should not present itself as the grant claimant unless it is the employing organisation and meets the employer conditions.

Jobs Guarantee: phase one and national rollout

The national Jobs Guarantee is different from the Youth Jobs Grant. It is designed for eligible 18–24-year-olds who have been claiming Universal Credit and looking for work for 18 months. It provides a six-month paid job, with government funding 100% of eligible employment costs for up to 25 hours a week at the relevant minimum wage. An employer can self-fund extra hours or higher pay.

DWP-funded delivery partners will source and match jobs, administer the scheme, provide wraparound support and training, monitor delivery and support participants at the end of the job. The national programme is planned across 25 delivery areas in Great Britain from November 2026 and is expected to support more than 90,000 eligible young people over three years.

Phase one began in April in Birmingham and Solihull, the East Midlands, Greater Manchester, Hertfordshire and Essex, central and east Scotland, and south-west and south-east Wales. Its published cohort and arrangements differ from the national rollout, so do not use phase-one guidance as if it were the final national employer process.

Apprenticeship support: three measures, not one

100% training and assessment funding from 1 August

For eligible new starts at non-levy employers, government will fund apprenticeship training and assessment up to the funding-band maximum for apprentices aged 16–24. Employers remain responsible for any price above the maximum. This is an England apprenticeship-funding rule, not a Great Britain employment grant.

£2,000 non-levy hiring payment from 1 October

The new hiring payment applies to qualifying apprentices aged 16–24 starting their practical period on or after 1 October 2026, where they have not been employed by the employer for more than 90 days beforehand. The first payment follows 90 days of apprenticeship participation. Providers should use the detailed DWP funding rules, not describe it simply as an automatic “SME grant”.

Existing foundation-apprenticeship incentive

Employers may receive up to £2,000 for an eligible foundation apprentice: generally ages 16–21, with defined extensions to ages 22–24 for people with an EHC plan, care experience, or prison eligibility. It is paid in three stages, including a final progression instalment only when the conditions for progression to a new non-foundation apprenticeship with the same employer are met. This payment must not be conflated with the October hiring payment.

Foundation apprenticeships and apprenticeship units

Foundation apprenticeships are Level 2 employed programmes. Catering and hospitality and retail service, supply and administration joined the earlier construction, engineering and manufacturing, health and social care, and digital products in April 2026. The current products have an eight-month typical duration to gateway; providers must check the exact Skills England version rather than advertise a generic 6–12-month course.

Approved apprenticeship units are also live for employed learners aged 19 or over. They are named products with their own references, minimum hours, maximum funding and assessment/validation requirements. A generic short course or Skills Bootcamp is not an apprenticeship unit and is not automatically payable from an apprenticeship service account.

Monthly update log

July 2026

• What changed: the Youth Jobs Grant is open; the national Jobs Guarantee delivery-partner application window has closed; final 2026 to 2027 apprenticeship rules are published.
• Action: replace all “Autumn launch” employer material for the Youth Jobs Grant with the live application route. For Jobs Guarantee work, identify the relevant delivery area and wait for DWP awards or appointed-partner engagement.

April to June 2026

• Phase one of the Jobs Guarantee and the Youth Guarantee Journey began in April.
• Catering and hospitality and retail foundation apprenticeships, plus named apprenticeship units, became available during April.
• DWP opened the national Jobs Guarantee delivery-partner competition on 9 June.
• The Youth Jobs Grant opened and DWP reported the Youth Guarantee Journey in all Jobcentres by the end of June.

Operational checklist for providers

• Use the live Youth Jobs Grant guidance and Find a Grant route; do not tell employers to wait until autumn.
• Distinguish the grant's six-month UC criterion from the Jobs Guarantee's 18-month criterion.
• Record the Youth Jobs Grant's four-month minimum job length separately from the Jobs Guarantee's six-month funded job.
• Do not promise that one scheme automatically converts into, or qualifies an employer for, another.
• For national Jobs Guarantee activity, work through appointed delivery partners once DWP confirms them.
• For apprenticeship starts, check the exact DWP funding-rule date, Skills England product version and APAR role.
• Keep the October hiring payment and foundation-apprenticeship incentive as separate eligibility and payment workflows.
• Do not market Skills Bootcamps or generic short courses as levy-account-funded apprenticeship units.