Small firms can recover their salary costs by taking part in the government's new £400m Train to Gain programme.

The scheme will only be available to organisations which provide salary details to the Learning and Skills Council (LSC), which launched the initiative in April.

The programme provides employees with skills training and vocational qualifications.

David Greer, director for Skills for Employers at the LSC, said the financial incentive would improve training investment among small firms.

"We believe it will make a difference and if it works then we believe we will see a lot more of those small employers investing their own resources in training because they see the business benefits.

"We have clearly designed this to focus as a priority on those employers and employees who don't normally provide training or look for training," he said.

The Train to Gain scheme has been launched in 20 areas of the UK and will be available to the whole of England and Wales from 1 August.