The price of training an apprentice can look expensive at first glance, but the cost to you can be much lower when you include funding.
Our programmes are priced up to £29,000, with the majority of these costs funded.
Our team will help you to understand if any costs apply.
All employers of a certain size pay something called the Growth and Skills Levy, which goes towards paying to train apprentices.
If you pay into the Growth and Skills Levy, this is funded from money you’ve already set aside. If you don’t, the government covers the vast majority of it. Either way, you’re not starting from zero.
On top of the training costs, you’ll also pay your apprentice’s wage over four years.
Is the investment worth it? Investing in training an apprentice when margins are tight and energy bills are high is a big decision.
But there’s a cost to not investing in training, too.
What happens to your business when an engineer retires or resigns? How much will it cost you to recruit a new employee who knows the job? And what do you do in the months it takes for a new hire to learn your business from scratch?
Investing in an apprentice means you get an employee working in your business from day one, and four years later you’ve got a skilled engineer who already knows your machines, your processes and your team.
If your business isn’t in the right place for a four-year apprenticeship, there are shorter, fully funded alternatives.
Apprenticeship units can plug a specific skills gap in a few weeks, and our accelerated programme works for experienced engineers who need upskilling or a formal qualification.
If your annual wage bill is over £3 million, you’ll already be paying into this. Whether you’ve thought about it or not, 0.5% of your payroll automatically goes into a digital training account every month.
Training an apprentice through Make UK uses the funds stored in that account. So it isn't a new cost, it’s using money you’ve already stashed away.
Remember that these funds expire 12 months after they land in your account, so if you don’t use them, you’ll lose them.
It’s worth checking your balance today to make sure your funds aren’t going to waste.
If your payroll is under £3 million, you don’t pay into the levy. The government covers 95% of your training costs, and you pay the remaining 5%.
And if your apprentice is under 25, you may not even have to pay that 5% either. The government has committed to covering it in full for eligible under-25 apprentices at smaller employers from September.
So if you’re an SME, the headline cost to you could be almost zero.
The legal minimum is £8 an hour for apprentices under 19, or for those 19 and over in their first year.
After that first year, anyone 19 or older moves onto the standard minimum wage for their age. This is £10.85 an hour for 19 and 20-year-olds, or £12.71 an hour for 21 and over.
Most employers we work with pay above the legal minimum, which helps with retention, and reflects what your apprentice is contributing by that point.
Not in most cases. If your apprentice is under 25 and on an approved standard, you pay zero employer National Insurance on their earnings up to £50,270 a year (correct as of July 2026).
The normal rate applies above that threshold, but very few apprentice wages get anywhere near it.
Depending on your apprentice’s circumstances and the size of your business, you can get extra payments on top of the levy and NI relief.
These can add up to a significant amount over the whole apprenticeship.
Incentives include:
- £1,000 for 16 to 18-year-old apprentices, and 19 to 24-year-old apprentices with an EHCP or care leavers
- £2,000 for foundation apprenticeships for 16 to 21-year-old apprentices, and 22 to 24-year-old apprentices with an EHCP or care/prison leavers
- £2,000 for new 16 to 24-year-old apprentices (from October 2026)
- £3,000 for new 18 to 24-year-old apprentices if they have been in receipt of Universal Credit for six months or more (from June 2026)
Incentives can be ‘stacked’ if apprentices match more than one criteria.
Talk to us and we’ll tell you exactly what you’re entitled to for your specific situation.
Funding covers training, but it doesn’t cover your apprentice’s wage or any extra support or perks you choose to offer on top.
For some standards, the full cost of delivering the training can be a bit higher than the government's funding band.
The funding band is the maximum amount the government will contribute towards the cost of training for a given apprenticeship standard.
If a top-up is required for your apprentice’s standard, we’ll tell you upfront, before you commit.
Apprenticeship Pathways
Compare the standard apprenticeship, the accelerated programme and levy-funded units, and find the one that matches your timeframe.
Step-by-step guide to taking on an apprentice
See exactly what happens from your first conversation with us to your apprentice starting, and how we help along the way.
Want to find out more
If you have more questions about whether the cost of an apprentice is worth it for your business,
Get in touch
Talk to us
Want to know exactly what an apprenticeship would cost for your business?