Chancellor Rishi Sunak’s £2bn scheme, which opened for applications from all sectors last week, is offering to pay 16-34 year-olds the national minimum wage for six months of 25-hours-a-week placements. Employers can top up salaries and extend hours if they so wish.
The government will cover national insurance and pension contributions and will give participating employers £1,500 in training and related costs. It estimates it could fund more than 250,000 placements between November 2020 and December 2021.
The catch for small businesses is that each grant covers 30 trainee placements. Those unable to accommodate this many people must apply through a representative organisation - such as a local authority, the chambers of commerce or trade bodies - or join a group of other employers and nominating a representative.
Indie body Pact has promoted the scheme to its members and chief executive John McVay said he is “waiting for feedback on how useful it is and how the sector may use it”.
Meanwhile on Twitter, drama producer Neil Chordia floated the idea of indies banding together to collectively offer 30 placements, potentially across film, TV and theatre.
Chordia said he thought around 30 companies could offer a place each but has already found a greater appetite and is looking to third parties such as Screen Skills to administer applications.
Companies such as Brazen Productions, Redbag Pictures, Passion Pictures, Erebus Pictures and Sona Films, and producers including Femi Oyeniran and Lucy Meer are among those vowing to join him.
Chordia said that if such an approach works out, it could be a positive experience for smaller companies.
“It will give indie producers some extra hands to deal with all their projects and it will help skill up a lot of youngsters and enable to pursue jobs in the industry, crucially having some experience behind them - and they’ll be paid,” he said.
In the case of multi-employer bids, the government will assess whether nomionated representatives have the appropriate experience of managing partnership agreements with third parties and sufficient robust financial and governance processes to manage the grant application.
For full details of the scheme, including how to get help in finding a representative, click here.