Financial assistance for business education initiatives
The federal government in Germany is expanding its support for small and medium-sized businesses that continue to provide training opportunities despite the challenges posed by the Coronavirus pandemic. This move is aimed at increasing the number of applications for the training premium, a scheme described as a "shopkeeper" by Jens Brandenburg, spokesman for vocational training in the FDP parliamentary group.
Since August of this year, small and medium-sized companies can apply for 2,000 euros per training contract if they maintain the number of apprenticeships, and 3,000 euros if they increase the number of training places. The aim is to encourage more companies to claim these premiums.
However, as of December 1st, there is no specific data available on exactly how many small and medium-sized businesses in Germany have applied for these federal government training premiums related to impacts from the COVID-19 pandemic. This data may typically come from official government or labour ministry reports or COVID-19 support program summaries published after that date.
Federal Minister of Labour, Hubertus Heil (SPD), is particularly concerned about the upcoming training year and emphasized the need for a joint effort from business and politics to promote training. Heil announced that training premiums will also be organized next year. Companies that hired apprentices by the end of June of this year and were affected by the second Corona wave in the fall can now claim the premiums retroactively.
Despite the lack of precise application numbers, the facilitated access to training aids has been coordinated between the participating departments and is set to come into force from December 11th. However, Jens Brandenburg expressed doubts that companies are likely to provide multi-year training places for an additional 2,000 or 3,000 euros. He stated that the training premium will not create additional training places.
Hubertus Heil announced this to ARD capital studio. Heil's announcement comes as the threshold at which funding can be granted is to be lowered, with the aim of making the scheme more accessible to businesses. The expansion of the training premium scheme is part of the federal government's broader efforts to support small and medium-sized businesses during these challenging times.
Small and medium-sized businesses in Germany can claim education-and-self-development training premiums, as the federal government is expanding support for businesses that maintain or increase training opportunities amid the Coronavirus pandemic. However, the number of companies applying for these premiums remains unclear, as no specific data is available yet.
Despite doubts about the creation of new training places, Hubertus Heil, the Federal Minister of Labour, announced that the lowering of the funding threshold for these education-and-self-development training premiums will make the scheme more accessible for businesses, as part of the broader federal government efforts to support small and medium-sized businesses during these challenging times.
