Apprenticeships financial support

The amount of support you are entitled to depends on your care leaver status. Check your rights on the GOV.UK support for care leavers website. 

Apprenticeship top-up scheme

If you decide to do an apprenticeship, you might be eligible for our apprenticeship top-up scheme for care leavers. 

Your life beyond care worker will complete an apprenticeship top-up calculation with you. You will then know what your income will be if you do an apprenticeship.

How much you will get

It is difficult to say exactly how much extra financial support you might get. The scheme is based on what you earn and what your outgoings are. Your outgoings will vary depending on things like:

• Your age
• Where you live
• How far you travel to get to work and how you get there
• Whether you have children 

We will review how much additional financial support you get every six months. This will be part of your pathway plan review. We will also review if your income or outgoings change significantly.  

You do not have to pay income tax or National Insurance on the money you get from our apprenticeship top-up scheme.  

Apprenticeships care leavers' bursary

As a care leaver you might be entitled to a Government bursary if you are under 25 when you start an apprenticeship. The bursary is £3,000 and is paid to you in instalments over the first year of your apprenticeship.

Read GOV.UK guidance on the apprenticeships care leavers' bursary 

How to apply

You should ask your training provider for more information about how to apply for the bursary.

Study materials and training equipment

You might be able to get help with study materials and training equipment until you turn 25. However, it is not compulsory for us to pay for these costs.

If you will struggle to pay for items for a course, for example, catering knives, work boots or books, tell your life beyond care worker. We might be able to help you. 

You can also try and get charity funding.

Read about charitable organisations for care leavers.