Andy Burnham, the Mayor of Greater Manchester, has announced a new £4,500 payment scheme aimed at encouraging young people from households on benefits to take up apprenticeships. The initiative is designed to tackle a long-standing disincentive whereby starting an apprenticeship can leave such youngsters financially worse off than remaining on benefits, discouraging take-up of training routes into work.

The scheme forms part of Burnham's wider efforts to boost skills and employment among disadvantaged young people in the region, at a time when he is also facing internal Labour tension over welfare policy, with figures on the party's Left threatening to rebel against what they call "punitive" benefits cuts. The £4,500 sum is intended to bridge the income gap apprentices can face compared with benefit payments, though full details of eligibility and funding sources were not fully specified in the announcement.