As National Apprenticeship Week 2018 ends, many examples of the great contribution that apprentices are bringing to organisations - and the way good apprenticeship programmes can develop skills and careers have been seen.
In the Chancellor’s spring statement he has promised to make money available for smaller employers to take on apprentices, which has been welcomed by experts.
Philip Hammond said the Education Secretary would release up to £80m to support small businesses to employ an apprentice. He added that the current system was challenging for these firms.
Geraint Johnes, professor of economics at Lancaster University Management School and research director at The Work Foundation said:
“Small enterprises with fewer than 50 people employ some 48 per cent of all private sector workers. He added:
“So, they offer a significant engine for employment creation, and facilitating the adoption of apprenticeships in this area is likely to prove fruitful.”
At present, the Government’s own figures show just a quarter of apprenticeships are going to those aged under 19 years of age, compared to 29% going to those over 25 years of age – and two-thirds of all apprenticeships go to existing employees, leaving no chance for new people to enter the labour market.
Recent research by the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) has shown that the levy - raised from all larger employers as a means of funding more apprenticeships - looks unlikely to improve the figures as nearly half of levy-paying employers will use the existing training as apprenticeships for current employees.
The apprenticeship levy, introduced last April, has been met with criticism from some employers and in February, at a government select committee hearing it was described as “woefully inadequate.”
The levy is paid by larger employers with pay bills exceeding £3m, who set up an account with the National Apprenticeship Service, through which they can access funds.
Geraint Johnes is of the opinion that one of the reasons smaller firms have struggled with the funding opportunities for apprenticeships is that they will not automatically have an account with the service - limiting their use of apprentices. He says:
“The extra support implies a transfer of resource from larger to smaller firms, but larger employers will continue to benefit directly from the apprenticeship training when the smaller firms are in their supply chains.”
National Chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses, Mike Cherry – in welcoming the promise of more funding, said:
“It’s good to see £80m of much-needed dedicated funding for small firms that are keen to take on an apprentice. Small businesses are key to delivering the government’s target of three million new apprenticeships by 2020.”
However, Elaine Gibson, Education Director at the Chartered Institute of Payroll Professionals, said:
“While access to more funding will be useful to businesses, we would like to see wider training opportunities being included through the levy. This would really benefit small businesses that could strengthen the skills and knowledge of their employees through funded opportunities that they may not be able to afford any other way.”
The CIPD state that business must play its part by ensuring that pursuing recovery of the levy does not mean that other forms of training investment suffer.
