Northern mayors will be paid to match young people with real jobs under a £725m shake‑up of apprenticeships confirmed on 7 December. The plan promises 50,000 extra places over three years, free training for under‑25s at small and medium‑sized firms, and new shorter technical courses from April 2026.

A £140m pilot will fund combined authorities to identify local vacancies, prioritise teenagers and 18–24s not in education, employment or training, and place them with nearby employers. The point is simple: local leaders know who’s hiring and what skills are missing, so funding and decisions will sit closer to those vacancies.

For Northern SMEs, the immediate change is cost. Government will pick up 100% of training costs for eligible apprentices under 25 in non‑levy firms by removing the 5% ‘co‑investment’ charge. That extends earlier relief that covered under‑22s, closing a long‑criticised gap for 22–24‑year‑olds in smaller companies.

Regions here already run the kind of matchmaking Westminster now wants to scale. West Yorkshire’s levy‑transfer scheme has steered £9m from large employers into SME apprenticeships; as Mayor Tracy Brabin put it in January, the aim is to “keep the West Yorkshire pound in West Yorkshire.” Liverpool City Region’s brokerage has channelled £9.2m to fund 1,521 roles, while Tees Valley’s levy‑matching service lines up donors such as the BBC, Amazon and bp for local firms.

The sectors named in the package will feel very familiar across the North. Defence and advanced manufacturing already recruit at scale: BAE Systems plans to take on more than 500 early‑career starters in Lancashire in 2026, while Sellafield trains 600+ apprentices across Cumbria and Warrington. In the North East, AESC’s new Sunderland gigafactory is set to add more than a thousand jobs to an automotive cluster that relies on skilled technicians.

Foundation apprenticeships, introduced from August 2025, are building an entry‑level rung in areas like construction trades, digital support, engineering and health. Skills England says these routes are designed for 16–21s (with some extensions to 24 for care‑experienced learners), creating a clearer ladder into work. A new Level 4 apprenticeship in AI and bite‑size short courses in AI, engineering and digital follow from April 2026.

Why now? Youth disengagement remains stubborn. ONS puts the UK NEET total at 946,000 in July–September 2025 (12.7% of 16–24s). Ministers are pairing this week’s move with an £820m Youth Guarantee that promises six‑month paid placements from spring 2026, though welfare conditionality attached to the scheme has drawn criticism from charities.

Local leaders argue that devolved brokerage is the quickest fix. “I am delighted that so many employers have stepped up to invest millions of pounds from unspent levy funds into skills and training,” said Liverpool City Region Mayor Steve Rotheram as his team expanded levy transfers. In the North East, Mayor Kim McGuinness has pushed new pre‑apprenticeship activity and skills projects tied to EV and battery manufacturing.

There’s also plumbing behind the scenes. Skills England now oversees standards and approvals after taking on functions from IfATE, and Whitehall has signalled that the rebranded Growth and Skills Levy will fund those modular short courses from April 2026. For Level 7, public funding for new starters narrows from January 2026 to focus on younger learners and those with specific needs.

For employers, the ask is practical: line up roles and use the combined authority teams already in place. West Yorkshire’s growth hub, Liverpool City Region’s Be More brokerage and Tees Valley’s levy‑matching service can absorb new demand quickly, while Greater Manchester’s programmes remain geared to removing barriers for under‑represented groups. This national push should make those local pipes run faster.

Downing Street’s message this week was about status as much as spend. “If you choose an apprenticeship, you should have the same respect and opportunity as everyone else,” said the Prime Minister. For Northern readers, the test will be whether mayors can convert this funding into paid starts with local firms before next summer’s intake-and keep more talent close to home.