The UK chancellor, John Healey, has committed £100 million to a new Local Apprenticeship Service, under which mayor-led teams will act like "football scouts" to connect young people with employers — including firms that have never taken on a trainee.

Speaking at the Labour Party conference in Liverpool, Healey framed the policy as a shift in how the state supports young people: from welfare payments to work with training. "The best thing we can offer a young person isn't a benefit payment, it's a first job with training and a wage," he said. "Our determination to help, matched by their determination to hope."

How the service will work

Regional mayors will lead the Local Apprenticeship Service. Healey argued that devolved leaders hold the local intelligence the scheme depends on. "They know which firms are hiring and which colleges are delivering, and they know which estates have been left behind — that's what devolution means," he said.

The practical model is direct outreach. "Local teams who will go to local firms that have never taken on a trainee and say 'We'll help you do it,'" the chancellor added.

For HR teams at small and mid-sized employers, the announcement signals an impending pipeline of first-time apprenticeship candidates, paired with hands-on support for employers with no prior experience of trainee programmes. Whether that support translates into reduced administrative burden — often the barrier for SMEs considering apprenticeships — will depend on how mayors allocate the £100 million.

Healey described the announcement as a "down-payment" on the Milburn report on young people and work, which will be published soon.

Union Learning Fund returns

The chancellor also confirmed he will re-establish the Union Learning Fund, a scheme created in 1998 under the Tony Blair government to build trade unions' capacity to work with employers, employees and learning providers and increase workplace learning take-up.

Gavin Williamson, the Conservative education secretary, scrapped the fund in 2021 despite evidence of strong benefits for workers and employers.

A 2016 evaluation of the fund found that 77% of employers believed their organisation received a return on its investment in union learning activity. A similar share — 78% — agreed or strongly agreed that management was very supportive of trade unions' role in training.

TUC general secretary Paul Nowak welcomed the reversal. "Restoring the Union Learning Fund is plain common sense and a real boost for workers, businesses and the economy," he said. "The decision to scrap the hugely successful workplace skills fund by the previous Tory government was ideological and a disastrous own goal. The chancellor's announcement today rights that wrong."

Recruiters want a seat at the table

The Recruitment and Employment Confederation (REC) pressed the government to go further in the upcoming Budget. "Today's announcement on apprenticeships must stoke the firebox for further action in the Budget to encourage employers to create more entry-level opportunities and pathways into work," said Shazia Ejaz, the REC's director of campaigns.

Ejaz argued that temporary work already gives thousands of young people a route into lasting careers, and that the new service should draw on recruitment sector expertise. "Involving recruiters would complete the puzzle, bringing together local leaders, training providers, employers and recruitment experts to help more young people skill up to meet the demands of local employers," she said.

With the Milburn report imminent and the Budget ahead, employers can expect further detail on how the £100 million will be distributed across mayoral combined authorities — and what role the restored Union Learning Fund will play in workplace skills delivery.