National Apprenticeship Week: why more young women should consider a STEM apprenticeship

The UK needs to close its growing skills gap and STEM apprenticeships are a great way to do that.

 

It is well-known that women are under-represented in science, technology, engineering and maths (STEM) sectors in the UK.

Only 24 percent of women work in core STEM industries and there are concerns that the skills gap is widening.

What can be done to fix these problems?

Recently, the UK government has been increasing its focus on apprenticeships. This is when a full-time job is combined with training in essential skills and recognizable qualifications. In 2017, 114,400 young people started apprenticeships in England, in sectors such as health, engineering, and business.

Today marks the start of National Apprenticeship Week 2018 (5 – 9 March); what better time to raise awareness about the opportunities for young women in STEM apprenticeships?

Getting young women into STEM apprenticeships

According to Anne Milton, the minister for skills and apprenticeships, barriers need to be broken down in order to encourage girls to pursue science-based subjects.

“All young kids love science and finding out how things work. But for some reasons, there has been a drop off in interest for young girls as they go through secondary school. They begin to feel that those sorts of subjects and those sorts of careers are not right for them,” explains Milton.

“But the thing about STEM is it’s not just about building bridges. It’s present in every single sector, whether that’s construction, farming, and agriculture, or the creative industries. These industries rely on STEM subjects.”

As a result, the government is trying to ensure that more young women are made aware of the opportunities available in STEM apprenticeships.

This is why Milton launched the careers strategy last year, an obligatory scheme for schools to invite different providers of education – such as further education (FE) colleges, universities and apprenticeship providers – into classes so young people can learn about the different career choices available to them.

“It’s really important that we have initiatives for young women to think of STEM careers,” says Milton.

What’s it actually like being an apprenticeship?

When it comes to looking for an apprenticeship, or any type of career, the start can be fairly overwhelming. One good place to begin is with Google.

This is how Becky King, from Bermondsey, found her apprenticeship with the National Physical Laboratory. She always had a passion for science from a young age but found learning from a textbook in a classroom stifling.

“I hadn’t considered an apprenticeship before and I certainly wasn’t aware of any in the STEM. I searched ‘careers in science without a degree’ online and the NPL apprenticeship came up,” King explains.

“It sounded like exactly what I was looking for so I applied. A few interviews and a presentation later I was accepted as a junior scientist apprentice.”

King says she loved the sense of community and teamwork at NPL, as well as the many areas of science the laboratory specializes in. She took on a Level 3 apprenticeship (which is equivalent to three A-Levels) as well as completing extra qualifications to prove her technical competence in lab work.

After graduating from her apprenticeship last March, she was offered a full-time role as an assistant research scientist in Quantum Detection.

But that is not all. King is now an undergraduate student at the University of Kent, studying an integrated Masters in physics which is sponsored by the NPL.

“My favorite thing about my apprenticeship was the endless opportunities”, she says. “I got to work with work leading scientists who trusted and encouraged you to work independently and improve your skills in labs and in analytical work.

“So many people at NPL invested their time into ensuring I succeed which is something I will never forget.”

Expanding skillsets with a career change

One of the benefits of an apprenticeship is that it makes it easier to change careers. Due to the fact it entails job training and qualifications and is paid, apprenticeships enable a seamless process for moving from one career to another.

That was the experience for Charmaine Whittingham from Lewisham. She initially worked as a nursery nurse for three years before deciding she wanted a career in the financial sector. She heard about an apprenticeship within Barclays branch network and decided to go for it.

After working in a high street branch of the bank, Whittingham set her sights on moving into a head office role.

“There are a wider amount of opportunities in head office roles and I thought that would be more suited for me. I wanted to go into something specific with a specific skill set and gain a qualification,” she explains.

Whittingham found an apprenticeship in the Data and Strategic Analysis (DSA) team in Barclays’ Canary Wharf office. Despite not having a background in technical data handling, she decided to pursue it.

“I thought, what do I have to lose in applying for it?” she says.

Now Whittingham is undergoing an 18-months-long apprenticeship scheme within the DSA team. At the end of the scheme, she will come out with a Level 4 apprenticeship in data and analytics.

“My favorite thing is that I’m not treated like an apprentice,” she says. “I still have the same opportunities and the same set up as everybody else, we’re all treated equally.”

Since working with the DSA team, Whittingham has won two awards. She is recognized as an ambassador for her team as well as winning a global innovation fintech challenge during Barclaycard’s global innovation week.

Once Whittingham finishes her apprenticeship, she’s hoping to go on to the next level and study for a degree in data and analytics. And one of the best things about her apprenticeship has been the ability to earn whilst studying.

“For me, that was very rewarding because if I went to university or college, I would have got a weekend or evening job but it wouldn’t be the same as a full-time job. An apprenticeship means I wasn’t limited in terms of what I could do and where I could go.”

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Business leaders give damning indictment of failing Apprenticeship Levy

A survey by the Institute of Directors (IoD) with more than 640 responses found that fewer that one in seven thinks the levy is fit for purpose and fewer than one in five will use it to take on more apprentices than otherwise.

The survey found:

• Just 14% of employers who pay the Apprenticeship Levy think it is fit for purpose.
• Only around a third understand the system perfectly, and even fewer will reclaim their full Levy entitlement.
• 14% view the Levy simply as a tax.
• A quarter of those who don’t employ apprentices says they can’t because of regulatory or administrative burdens.

The news comes just days after a Transport Network exclusive revealed that just £108m of the roughly £2bn raised between May 2017 and February 2018 has been paid from employers’ levy accounts.

In addition, the number of apprenticeships has actually fallen since the introduction of the levy.

In the first quarter after the levy was introduced, the number of people signing up for the vocational training suffered a 60% year-on-year collapse to 69,800.

Data seen by the Daily Telegraph reveals that as recently as October, of the 19,150 companies paying into the levy, only 11,900 had registered to claim to fund back from it – suggesting around 38% of companies had effectively written off the cash as a cost.

Seamus Nevin, head of policy research at the IoD, said: ‘Across the country, employers in almost every sector are reporting skills shortages, and apprenticeships are a very important part of the solution.

‘As this survey shows, however, the Apprenticeship Levy is not working as intended. The new system was supposed to be employer-driven but the narrow and centrally-controlled design mean this is not happening. It is not helping firms to invest in skills and train in a way that best suits the needs of our economy. Many employers are unable to make the complex and restrictive rules fit their specific training requirements.

‘This has been reflected in official statistics, which reveal a decline in apprenticeship starts since the levy was introduced. While the intention behind the policy is right, employers need to see a change in how it is implemented urgently. We strongly advise that the levy and co-funding system are reviewed in order to give employers the flexibility to develop the skills they need to be competitive, and to avoid any further drop in apprenticeship recruitment and training volumes.’

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Apprenticeship Levy Failing its First Test

Business leaders have demanded urgent reforms to how vocational training is funded after official figures revealed a 25 percent decline in the take-up of apprenticeships.

 

 

Since the introduction of the “apprenticeship levy”, which was intended to improve Britain’s skills base, the number of people starting training schemes has fallen markedly.

Preliminary figures from the Department for Education show that 194,100 apprenticeship starts were reported in England for the first two quarters of the 2017-18 academic year, compared with 258,800 a year earlier.

The decline was revealed as the first anniversary of the levy approaches. The policy, which became operational last April, requires businesses with an annual wage bill of £3 million or more to pay 0.5 percent of their payroll costs into an apprenticeship fund that they can access to pay for training. The fund is topped up with public money.

The government promised that the levy would lead to a “huge reform” of vocational training and provide more skilled workers for industry, but employers have complained that it is too inflexible and difficult to navigate.

Tim Thomas, director of employment and skills at EEF, the manufacturers’ organization, said that the figures should be “the final signal to the government that now is the time for a review and change”. He said: “Whilst manufacturers are doing their best to push through the complexities of delivering apprenticeships, greater employer flexibility in using levy funds is needed so they can expand provision.”

The CBI has called for businesses to be allowed to pool more of their levy with others nearby, or in the same sector, and to combine with local colleges to create centers for excellence for apprenticeships. The Federation of Small Businesses wants large companies to be able to share their levy allocations with suppliers more easily.

The Department of Education said that the data should be treated with caution because some training providers were yet to provide figures for this year. “Comparisons that are more accurate can be made once finalized data are published in November 2018,” it said.

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CBI calls for urgent reform to the Apprenticeship Levy

Fix broken Apprenticeship Levy to deliver high-quality training.

Speaking at the FE Week Annual Apprenticeships Conference in Birmingham, CBI Deputy Director-General, Josh Hardie, called for the government to urgently reform the Apprenticeship Levy if it is going to deliver great training and jobs.

In his speech, Josh recognized the welcome steps the government has taken to build an effective English skills system – including the introduction of T-levels and the National Retraining Partnership.

However, when it came to the Apprenticeship Levy, firms were concerned that the Levy’s current structure is a missed opportunity to increase investment in training, with lots of firms unable to access the right provisions to upskills their employees and grow their business. In addition, the narrow design of the system prevents them from using the Levy to build the quality training system they need for the long term.

With businesses wanting a system that delivers for people and our economy in the long term, Josh set out three immediate steps to improve the Levy – and unlock the business commitment to skills.

First, more flexibility in how the levy can be spent on apprenticeships, so firms can work together to share far more of their funds to support quality training in their area or sector. Next, the government should push ahead with the Apprenticeship Reform Programme to drive better progression for apprentices to higher-paying jobs. Finally, the Institute for Apprenticeships needs proper teeth as an independent skills regulator to ensure an increase in quality training in the market.

The speech received good coverage in the national media. Going forward, the CBI will continue to push for adapting the apprenticeship system, making the case for it to evolve into a more flexible ‘skills and training levy’ which delivers for everyone, tackles skills shortages and improves standards across the board.

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Apprenticeships popular again as workers turn to trades

Hundreds of area youth are learning job skills and earning income without spending thousands on a college education.

Apprenticeships are alive and well, and poised to expand from traditional fields into high-tech areas. Local unions run free apprenticeships in a wide range of trades, including electricians, sprinkler fitters, painters, elevator constructors, bricklayers and boilermakers.

And now the Workforce Development Board of Herkimer, Madison and Oneida Counties is offering grants to help area employers meet the demand for skilled workers by offering apprenticeships. So far most of the takers have been advanced manufacturing firms, said Nate Crossett, program director of the board’s American Apprenticeship Initiative.

“The major issue is that people, especially in manufacturing, are retiring at a rate that these local companies just can’t keep up with,” he said. “Apprenticeships were a big deal in the ’70s and ’80s.”

But then came the push to send students to college and the apprenticeship programs declined, leaving no one with the needed skill sets to replace aging workers, Crossett said.

“It’s putting manufacturing in danger of not really being able to compete locally, nationally or even internationally,” he said. “That was the main premise of why this grant was created.”

And that’s why Stephen Copperwheat, president of Environmental Composites Inc., in Utica, decided to apply for grants to start two apprenticeship programs. The founding workforce is getting older, he said.

“We’re a relatively new manufacturer,” he said. “We’ve been in business now for about 10 years, but we have a need for skilled maintenance people in the manufacturing setting. We have to have a mechanic basically, a skilled millwright.”

So a maintenance technician apprentice started several months ago and the company now is looking for an apprentice electrician, he said.

The Workforce Development Board received a $2.9 million federal grant to run the American Apprenticeship Initiative in 19 Central New York counties from 2015 to 2020. The grants give companies up to $3,000 per apprentice to cover the cost of education beyond on-the-job training, Crossett said. They’re also available for apprenticeships in cybersecurity and information technology; nanotechnology; and drones, but nanotechnology hasn’t appeared locally yet and the drone industry isn’t really hiring yet, he said.

But apprenticeships have started through the Air Force Research Lab and the Griffiss Institute in Rome, Crossett said.

“We’re starting to branch out and do apprenticeships in information technology because that’s the future as well,” he said.

Apprenticeships are a great way for young people to train for a skilled job with good pay and benefits without going into debt paying for college, said Patrick Costello, president of the Central New York Labor Council and assistant business manager for the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers Local 43. Apprenticeships are free and apprentices get paid a portion of a journeyman’s salary while they learn with the amount going up as their skills increase, he said.

“It’s like going to college and getting paid all the time you’re going, getting a degree in a trade without having any student debt,” Costello said. “So, it’s a pretty good deal.”

And journeymen in the building trades aren’t left stranded and unemployed by the plant closures that have afflicted this area, he pointed out.

Costello, too, sees the model working for a wider variety of industries, including health care, for example. The limitation is economics, he said.

“It’s expensive to have a bona fide, realistic apprenticeship program,” he said. “I think the only way you can do it is to have the employers buy in.”

Unions pay for the programs in the skilled trades and now the apprenticeship initiative grants are helping other industries.

“It’s the industry investing in the future of the industry,” Costello said. “It’s a good model.”

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Surge in numbers of young people taking apprenticeships

Almost 13,000 young people opted for ‘earn and learn’ options last year.

The number of young people opting to pursue apprenticeships climbed by almost 25 percent last year, new figures show.

The sharp growth comes as policymakers seek to expand the Irish apprenticeship and traineeship system following a dramatic collapse during the economic downturn.

About 60 percent of school-leavers in the State currently progress to higher education, one of the highest rates in the EU.

By contrast, just 2 or 3 percent of school-leavers is pursuing apprenticeships as a route to work compared with countries such as Germany where the figures are closer to 60 percent.

Last year also saw the introduction of a number of new apprenticeships in areas such as accounting, financial services, and hospitality

New figures compiled by Solas, the umbrella body for the education and training sector, show apprenticeships jumped from 10,445 in 2016 to 12,849 last year, a 24 percent increase.

Gender gap

While the growth in numbers is encouraging, there remains a major gender gap.

Last year just over 1 percent of those in apprenticeships were female. Nonetheless, this almost represented a doubling from 0.6 percent the previous year.

Traditional craft apprenticeships continue to account for the majority of apprenticeships.

Of these, electrical apprenticeships were most popular (5,458), followed by construction (2,837), engineering (1,888), plumbing (1,272) and carpentry (1,136).

Last year also saw the introduction of a number of new apprenticeships in areas such as accounting, financial services, and hospitality. Numbers in these apprenticeships grew from 70 in 2016 to 391 last year.

Major growth is expected in this sector as dozens of new apprenticeships come on-stream in new areas such as cybersecurity, animation, systems engineering, horticulture and sports turf management.

They will range in skill level from level five (certificate) to level 10 (doctorate) and vary in duration from two to four years.

Structured

Apprenticeships are programmes of structured education and training which combine learning in the workplace with learning in an education and training institution. They prepare participants for a specific occupation and lead to a qualification. Students are also entitled to payment while they complete their apprenticeships.

The Government has pledged to more than double these “earn and learn” enrolments to 14,000 by 2020.

In all, a total of 26 new programmes are due to be announced on Friday which will be developed over the next 12-15 months.

Latest figures show that about one in three workers in the State are at least one educational level above the international norm for the jobs they are in.

Minister for Education Richard Bruton has said these new programmes provide opportunities and choice for school-leavers and other learners and allow employers shape the programmes that best suit their workforce needs.

He has allocated some €122 million in 2018 to help deliver this goal.

Mr. Bruton’s action plan for education contains a commitment to enroll 31,000 people on apprenticeship programmes in the period 2016-2020, a near doubling on current activity.

Overqualified

Parents’ “obsession” with ensuring their children progress to third-level education has been cited by some observers as a key reason Irish workers are among the most overqualified in Europe for the jobs in which they are working.

Latest figures show that about one in three workers in the State are at least one educational level above the international norm for the jobs they are in.

This is the highest rate in the EU and almost twice the level of countries such as France, Sweden, and Finland.

Michael Moriarty, general secretary of Education and Training Boards Ireland, which runs much of the Irish further education sector, told The Irish Times last year that too many students were attending the third level.

“Many are going too early to the third level or shouldn’t be there at all in the first place. That’s clear in the attrition rates in some college courses,” he said.

Mr. Moriarty said there was a “misplaced snobbery” among many parents who were “obsessed” with sending their children to higher education regardless of their talents.

However, Dr. Graham Love, chief executive of the Higher Education Authority, has said it is a great achievement that so many Irish school-leavers are going to third-level.

Dr. Love has also said many graduates may be “overeducated” for their jobs in the short-term, but their qualifications may become more relevant later in their careers.

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Rachel Maclean praises National Apprenticeship Week

AS part of National Apprenticeship Week (held last week) Rachel Maclean, MP for Redditch, celebrated the vital contribution of apprentices in Redditch.

Since 2010 there have been 7,110 apprenticeship starts in Redditch, and more than 1.2 million new apprenticeship starts nationally since 2015.

Take-up of higher-level apprenticeships in 2016-17 was up by nearly 35 percent compared to 2015-16.

As part of the week, the MP visited companies in Redditch to see apprenticeships in action.

First, she went to MSP in Enfield, a leading manufacturer of springs and stampings then Bee lighting, which makes high-quality lighting solutions for the motor industry.

Mrs. Maclean said: “Apprenticeships are at the heart of the Conservative Government’s strategy to expand opportunity and develop the skilled workforce the country needs. This includes working with industry to deliver an ambitious target of three million new apprenticeship starts by 2020.

“But we know there is still more to do, which is why we recently launched an education and funding review that will help people make more effective choices between the different options available to them, promoting parity of esteem between technical and academic pathways – something I am passionate about.”

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Cautious welcome for chancellor’s measures to streamline apprenticeship system

Experts have welcomed a commitment in the chancellor’s spring statement to make money available for smaller employers to take on apprentices – at the same time as a consultation into the extension of the IR35 tax rules into the private sector was confirmed.

In his speech yesterday (13 March), Philip Hammond said the education secretary would release up to £80m to support small businesses to employ an apprentice, after admitting that the current system was challenging for such firms.

“Small enterprises with fewer than 50 people employ some 48 percent of all private sector workers,” said Geraint Johnes, professor of economics at Lancaster University Management School and research director at The Work Foundation.

“So they offer a significant engine for employment creation, and facilitating the adoption of apprenticeships in this area is likely to prove fruitful.”

The apprenticeship levy, which was introduced last April, has been met with criticism from some employers. In February, it was described as “woefully inadequate” at a government select committee hearing.

The levy, which has been besieged by a lack of understanding and evidence of falling apprentice numbers, is paid by larger employers with pay bills exceeding £3m. These firms set up an account with the National Apprenticeship Service through which they can access funds.

Johnes believes that one of the reasons smaller firms have struggled to utilize the funding opportunities for apprenticeships is that they will not automatically have an account with the service, which has limited their use of apprentices.

“The extra support [announced by Hammond] 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,” said Johnes.

The Federation of Small Businesses welcomed the promise of more funding. National chairman Mike Cherry 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.”

Despite this welcome, some were disappointed that the government did not go further to reform the levy.

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 call mirrors findings from the CIPD’s research into the impact of the apprenticeship levy, which called for the government to transform the levy into a training provision.

Hammond also took other skills and training-related steps, including making £50m available to help employers prepare for the rollout of ‘T-Level’ work placements, and highlighting that the construction skills fund will open for bids to fund up to 20 ‘construction skills villages’ next month.

Launching a consultation on improving the way the tax system supports self-funded training by employees and the self-employed, Hammond’s announcement that the government could extend the existing tax relief available for self-funded work-related training by employees and the self-employed was cautiously received.

Stephen Herring, head of the taxation at the Institute of Directors, said: “We welcome the government’s acknowledgment in the chancellor’s spring statement that a broader, simpler, compliance-friendly tax relief to encourage individuals to undertake training that will directly benefit the UK economy is necessary.

“Hopefully, the outcome of the consultation will provide a sufficiently generous but focused new tax relief for those individuals who do not already benefit from courses provided by their employers.”

Hammond’s written ministerial statement confirmed that a consultation into off-payroll working in the private sector would be launched in the coming months to consider how to tackle non-compliance in this area, following the experiences of the public sector. The announcement appears to confirm industry belief that the IR35 may be extended to the private sector.

“While the written ministerial statement did confirm that a consultation on off-payroll working in the private sector will be launched ‘in the coming months’, there are still no firm timelines attached to this,” said Samantha Hurley, operations director at the Association of Professional Staffing Companies, which opposed the move to extend IR35 changes to the private sector.

With no new policy announcements made in the statement, Steven Cameron, pensions director at Aegon, said it was disappointing not to have heard more on other key policy areas.

“While automatic enrolment means nine million extra employees are saving for their retirement through workplace pensions, the self-employed are excluded,” said Cameron.

“With the chancellor saying the Conservatives are the champions for small businesses, we need new policies to stop the self-employed becoming second-class citizens in retirement.”

Despite the lack of new policy statements, the coming tax year will bring in several previously announced changes that affect employers, including rises in auto-enrolment minimum contributions, an increase to the pension lifetime allowance, changes to tax bands and changes to income tax rates for those in Scotland.

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National Apprenticeship Week may be over – but the work continues

For a young person, there’s nothing more powerful and persuasive than hearing from their peers about how apprenticeships work, writes Sue Husband.

As I look back on last week, I’m thrilled that so many people who are passionate about apprenticeships came together to celebrate how apprenticeships work for the eleventh National Apprenticeship Week 2018 (NAW).

University should no longer be the default next step. With more high-quality apprenticeships on offer than ever before, apprenticeships are being increasingly recognized by young people, their parents, employers, and schools as an alternative way to progress in a great career. The opportunities offered by apprenticeships are growing all the time, but there’s still more we can do to raise awareness of the benefits apprenticeships can bring to all.

For a young person, there’s nothing more powerful and persuasive than hearing from their peers about how apprenticeships work. That’s why this NAW, we wanted to give thousands of young people the opportunity to hear first-hand from current and former apprentices. To reach more people than ever before, we targeted apprentices, former apprentices and schools and stakeholders across the country and asked them to come together to take part in our 10,000 talks movement – 10kTalks – and help inspire the next generation of apprentices.

I am delighted to announce that we exceeded our target three times over. More than 300 schools joined us in the movement and helped us reach over 33,500 people with stories of how apprenticeships offer a career path that can take young people to the top.

The quest continues

Although NAW 2018 is now over, the quest to promote apprenticeships continues. Teachers, employers and apprentices should be incredibly proud of England’s thriving apprenticeship culture and we need to continue working together to ensure that apprenticeships and apprentices have the bright future they deserve. Beyond National Apprenticeship Week, schools can still sign-up to arrange talks for their students from inspiring apprentices, and access bespoke resource packages.

We want to see a future where more parents are confident in and supportive of their child’s decision to do an apprenticeship, because they know apprenticeships work. We also want more teachers to encourage all young people to consider an apprenticeship as a route to an exciting career. During NAW, almost 130 schools hosted teacher-to-teacher talks, reaching over 2,300 educators. Teachers ran sessions with their colleagues to spread the apprenticeship message and equip more people with the tools to inform students of the diversity of apprenticeships on offer. Whether it be a level 2 apprenticeship in butchery or a degree apprenticeship in aeronautical engineering, we want more people to be aware of the variety of opportunities out there.

Equally, more and more employers are recognising that apprenticeships are a fantastic way to develop their workforce and grow their own talent. During NAW, students were inspired by top employers and their apprentices at companies including Capgemini, IBM, JP Morgan Unilever, and Microsoft through the National Apprenticeship Service Live video series.

We know there is still more work to do. Yet, the unprecedented success of the 10kTalks movement shows there is a significant appetite for us to engage with even more schools, and together we can help inspire many more students to consider an apprenticeship. With all of us continuing to champion apprenticeships, we are confident of a bright future.

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Businesses can use apprenticeship levy funds to invest in executives’ MBAs, government confirms

‘Rebadging’ of training under scrutiny as Deloitte says almost half its graduates are now undertaking apprenticeships.

The way businesses use the apprenticeship levy has come under further scrutiny after the government approved a £18,000 funding allocation for higher-level skills, MBAs and degree apprenticeships.

Skills minister Anne Milton gave final approval for the funding band – which can be used by employers that have had higher-level apprenticeship courses approved by the Department for Education – on 1 March, following an initial approval from the Institute for Apprenticeships in August 2017.

The move will prove controversial among commentators who have claimed ‘rebadging’ training for existing employees runs counter to the intentions of the levy. And People Management has also learned that one of the UK’s largest graduate employers has rebadged almost half its 2017 graduate intake as ‘apprentices’, allowing it to receive top-ups from the government for their training.

The apprenticeship levy applies to all UK businesses with an annual payroll bill of more than £3m. Since April 2017, they must pay a levy of 0.5 percent into a digital account, recouped in training vouchers that are intended to fill skills gaps and provide new routes into the workplace. A target of three million apprenticeship starts by 2020 has been set by the government, and today marks the start of National Apprenticeship Week, which will bring a renewed focus on the topic.

However, an early assessment report published by the CIPD in January revealed that more than a third of eligible organizations use or plan to use the levy to fund management or leadership training for existing employees. And 46 percent said they would seek to rebadge graduate-level schemes rather than investing in apprenticeship starts.

Professional services giant Deloitte has now confirmed that it has transferred “just over 40 percent” of its 2017 graduate intake into an accountancy/taxation professional Level 7 apprenticeship scheme.

Emma Codd, managing partner for talent at Deloitte, said the apprenticeship levy was “designed to support and provide training for people starting their careers. Graduates on the programme will continue to be fully supported in gaining their professional qualifications. In addition, they will gain a Level 7 apprenticeship – master’s degree level – qualification.”

Expanding on the reasons for the December change to its graduate professional training scheme, the firm said its programmes were “continuously enhanced”.

Jeremy Stern, whose son joined Deloitte as a graduate trainee in September 2017, said he had concerns about the move. “In December, he and his cohort were told that they were now going to be put on a Level 7 apprenticeship course,” he told People Management.

“Nothing changes for them – just one extra piece of coursework is required, but Deloitte is able to obtain significant funds from the government for people they already employed, who they were already going to train and for whom there is no difference in the outcome.

“Hundreds of recruits are now classified as apprentices. Deloitte was heavily involved in planning the apprentice scheme with the government.”

Codd added that Deloitte believed the apprenticeship route “provides additional structure to our existing graduate programmes”, with “more emphasis” on skills and behaviors development, and better “support and pastoral care, through regular coaching provided by a combination of Deloitte personnel and our chosen training providers”.

Codd said Deloitte had set up “a very successful Level 4 BrightStart Higher Apprenticeship, developed over the past decade” and it now “offers 370 places to school leavers. We are very proud of this programme and offering the Level 7 accountancy apprenticeship route is the next step.”

Lizzie Crowley, a skills adviser at the CIPD, told People Management that employers using the levy to rebadge existing training was a concern. “When the levy gets taken off employers, it becomes public money, and the scrutiny of how that money is being spent is incredibly important. If organizations are using it to subsidize existing activities, that’s a big question mark over the effectiveness of the programme,” she said.

“The levy was set up to get a boost in overall investment in training but, if it encourages businesses to rebadge existing routes, this adds no additional training to the UK economy and won’t drive up apprenticeship numbers.”

The Chartered Management Institute (CMI) last week announced that 900 executives from a range of organizations would commence a Senior Leader Master’s Degree Apprenticeship, centered on developing strategic leadership skills for employees moving into senior management roles.

Barclays Bank in the UK has also announced that it will be offering master’s apprenticeships to invest in the development of employees, including the alumni of its graduate programme, higher apprenticeship alumni, and longer-term employees.

The bank said: Age or social circumstances shouldn’t be a barrier or deciding factor in finding a viable route to employment, and reskilling can be achieved at any age. It’s time for employers to take action to ensure that there is always a way to work, no matter how old you are, and recognize the unique benefits that an older workforce brings.”

Petra Wilson, CMI director of strategy, described the government approval of MBA-level apprenticeship funding as a “breakthrough opportunity” to invest in management, as strong leaders were vital for tackling low productivity and the uncertainties caused by Brexit.

“Top teams need professional leadership skills to drive business performance and growth. It will also help to challenge snobbery around vocational routes, and can help demonstrate how these new apprenticeships really can provide pathways through to the top,” she said in a statement.

Tristan Garrick, the CMI’s head of PR and campaigns, told People Management that the move would allow organizations to invest in apprenticeships “at all levels”, with plenty of funding to go around. “Investing in apprenticeships is essential to closing the UK’s professional skills gap at every level – particularly in management. The apprenticeship levy has been designed to create a workforce with the world-class skills that employers need to thrive post-Brexit,” he said.

According to CMI research, nine in 10 managers are in favor of using the levy to fund apprenticeships for people of all ages.

“Not only does this provide a pathway for school leavers into professional careers, but it also enables them to learn on the job from qualified, experienced leaders,” said Garrick.

“More than half of management apprentices are under the age of 30 and, with £3bn in available funding every year from 2019, there will be plenty of opportunities for employers to invest in apprenticeships for the next generation of managers and leaders.”

However, experts have questioned the decision to invest levy funds in this way. Allocating apprenticeship funds to senior and executive-level training was challenged at last week’s House of Lords select committee hearing. Lord Forsyth of Drumlean asked if the levy was “really designed to send senior people on MBA courses? Perhaps I’m being naive, but I didn’t think that was its purpose.”

Crowley said that while investment in skills was needed at all levels in the UK, including training for senior members of staff, apprenticeships were not necessarily the correct route to achieve this. “Higher-level apprenticeships can take three to five years to complete, and involve a considerable amount of time off the job – about one day a week for your senior members to actually not do their day job,” she said.

“Even though there is more flexibility in apprenticeships in the standards and frameworks, they are still not necessarily the most effective tools for delivering that training to senior leaders – often short courses, bespoke and blended learning are the best routes for delivering those skills. Apprenticeships are meant to deliver on the technical skills the economy needs – those technical skills gaps are not about management and leadership issues.”

As National Apprenticeship Week got underway, the City of London Corporation celebrated breaking its apprenticeship target by achieving 102 starts in the last 12 months. And provider HIT Training last week scooped the national TES Further Education award for its ‘monumental’ hospitality and catering apprenticeships programme.

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Ministers to face House of Lords committee grilling over apprenticeship levy criticism and the future of student loans

Ministers are to face questions from the Lords Economics Committee this week on criticism over the apprenticeship levy, as well as the future of student loans.

The House of Lords Economics Affairs Committee will be grilling Anne Milton MP, minister of state for apprenticeships and skills, along with Sam Gyimah MP, minister of state for universities, science, research, and innovation, on Tuesday 13 March.

The Committee said among the questions it will put to the ministers include how fair is the current system loans system, and how biased towards university applications is the careers advice and information provided to pupils?

The apprenticeship levy will also be in the spotlight since its introduction has been followed by a decline in apprenticeships.

It was introduced last April and makes employers with an annual pay bill of over £3m contribute 0.5 percent of their payroll towards a levy, for the money then to be claimed back to fund training for new or current employees.

Members of the House of Lords have already criticised the levy, saying its first year in place had been “woefully inadequate” at a previous meeting of the Select Committee.

Employers have been critical of the levy, with the chair of the EEF manufacturer’s body saying last month its impact had been “disastrous”.

Dame Judith Hackitt said it was seen as just another tax on business, and that many firms have postponed apprenticeships due to the levy.

Figures in January revealed there was 114,000 apprenticeship starts for the first quarter of the 2017-18 academic year, compared with 155,600 for the same period the year before – a drop of more than a quarter.

Research from the London Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) meanwhile, found that more than a third of businesses are not aware of the government’s apprenticeship funding scheme.

The government had set the target of creating 3m apprentices by 2020, and the Department for Education has said previously that the levy will “boost economic productivity, increase the country’s skill base and give millions a step on the ladder of opportunity”.

The DfE has also said it may “take time” for organizations to adjust to the new funding system, so conclusions should not be drawn too swiftly from the initial figures on apprenticeship starts.

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Apprenticeship Levy…success or failure?

You would be forgiven for thinking that apprenticeships are doomed and that vocational learning is not the way forward if you believed all of the recent media headlines and hype.

A lot has been written and discussed in the papers and trade magazines about Department of Education states that show a 41% decline in the number of people starting apprenticeships between May and July 2017.

You would be forgiven for thinking that apprenticeships are doomed and that vocational learning is not the way forward if you believed all of the recent media headlines and hype.

A lot has been written and discussed in the papers and trade magazines about Department of Education states that show a 41% decline in the number of people starting apprenticeships between May and July 2017.

In most quarters the reduction has been attributed to the introduction of the Apprenticeship Levy, which insists that firms with a wage bill of £3m or higher pay a monthly fee into a pot for organizations to tap into if they are looking to employ apprentices.

Whilst all sectors knew it was coming, there still seems a massive discord with what the Government was trying to do and what it has actually achieved. Lack of communication? Training provider engagement or lack of it? Are firms wanting more flexibility with training?

These are all valid concerns and ones I tend to hear a lot when I’m talking to companies about their skills and competency needs and how they can best meet them.

However, is it fair to say that the levy is failing?

Recent research with engineering and manufacturing firms showed that 55% of respondents felt it was working. It’s not a resounding approval and there is obviously a lot of discontentment out there, but it is still positive.

Furthermore, just over a fifth of companies questioned said the change had encouraged them to take on more apprentices which have to be a good thing. Some of the anecdotal information featured in the report centered around poor communication, a lack of understanding and confusion with all of the new types of standards being introduced.

The latter was another bone of contention. Two-thirds of manufacturers clearly stated that they didn’t get the new Trailblazer Standards, with 87% of those indicating that content was a major stumbling block. This is very disappointing and probably reflects a wider issue in the way apprenticeships are delivered and training providers need to shoulder their share of the blame.

Too many are still caught up with the original apprenticeship framework and not supporting their clients to explore the benefits of Trailblazers, which should, in theory, deliver a more rounded and skilled person for your business.

So if it’s not purely a case of the levy not working, what has triggered the number of apprenticeships starts to take such a drastic fall? It’s difficult to pinpoint one specific reason and probably a combination of a number of ingredients.

The sector may have got a little blasé in thinking that all of the marketing hype around vocational learning would deliver the numbers, neglecting the hard work and engagement with young people that is so crucial in convincing them that engineering and manufacturing is the right career for them.

There is still a perception that industry isn’t a great career to go into and, whilst we are changing that, we need to do more to paint a picture of what modern day manufacturing is like.

It’s robotics, it’s CAD/CAM systems, it’s precision CNC machines, it’s playing a role in making sure F1 cars get faster, airplanes are lighter, people can walk again – all played out in bright factories. That’s the message we need to get across and we need schools, college and universities to join us in getting this message out there.

And the latter needs to be much more than just lip service. There has to be a real co-ordinated approach and nothing would please the sector more than for teachers to get involved with industry so they fully understand the opportunities that exist.

This isn’t a riposte to education. I see it as more a tri-party collaboration where everyone plays their part. The government with the right conditions and funding, education and training providers with the right engagement and manufacturers affording young people the same opportunity they had to complete a full-time apprenticeship.

At the moment this isn’t really happening, with only a third of the firms featured in the research happy to let their apprentice spend the first 18 months off-site. This has to change. The skills issue will only get more severe if we don’t have a co-ordinated approach to getting apprenticeships back on track.

Let’s ALL take responsibility and bridge that gap.

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Is the apprenticeship levy pricing young people out of training?

The CIPD’s Elizabeth Crowley, the CBI’s Neil Carberry, and EFF’s Verity Davidge discuss what the new funding model means for school leavers.

he official story, as told by Anne Milton in her conversation with Spotlight this week, is that while the number of people taking up apprenticeships fell off a cliff in 2017 – dropping by 61 percent in less than a year – the drop was mainly concentrated among lower-quality programmes.

The numbers of more advanced, higher-quality apprenticeships rose. In November, FE Week reported a “huge spike” in higher-level programmes funded by the apprenticeship levy, as courses at level four and above rose by over 400 percent.

This, says the government, is good news – more people are doing better apprenticeships.

But within this data is another story.

Supported by a range of anecdotal evidence from businesses, there is a growing concern that apprenticeship reform, particularly the funding mechanism, has reduced the number of apprenticeships available to school leavers in favor of management apprenticeships for people who have already been employed for some time.

Elizabeth Crowley, the skills adviser at the Chartered Institute of Professional Development, describes this as “a pre-existing challenge within the system.

Before the levy was introduced, two-thirds of apprenticeships went to existing employees. Only a small number actually went to new starters.

However, the levy, or rather the incentives in the levy, appear to us to have shifted that balance further.”

Crowley explains that the new funding model means the priority for employers is now to recoup their levy money efficiently.

“Employers are looking for ways re-badge existing training activities to be able to reclaim their levy money.”

In its research into the unintended consequences of the levy, the CIPD found that “46 percent of businesses were looking at ways to rebadge their existing training activity as apprenticeships, including leadership and management training.”

“Early indications from [the DfE’s] data show that we’ve hit the lowest point since 2009/10 for the number of young people getting an apprenticeship place,” says Crowley.

“The IFS has been quite clear that the changes in the incentive structures actually disadvantage young people, because previously all of a young person’s training would have been paid for, but now they’re on a level playing field – the employers can spend to reclaim the levy cost for training no matter what age the employees are.”

Neil Carberry, managing director of people and infrastructure at the Confederation of British Industry, says that the CBI, too, has “anecdotal evidence from members that some of them have had to cut their apprentice numbers because of the way the levy is structured.

And we have had anecdotal evidence from members that some of them are accrediting training they already did via an apprenticeship framework.”

For Carberry, a significant part of the problem is that the rules mean companies often can’t spend the money they’re entitled to recoup from the levy.

Most importantly, the new rules state that “the only thing that the levy can pay for is the cost of taught time – so, the money that you pay to the college or the private provider for the classroom time off the job.”

Carberry quotes an example from a CBI member, “a business in a regulated sector with a £2.5m budget for their apprenticeship scheme.

Their arrangement with the college [for off-the-job training] costs £300,000 a year and everything else is a capital cost – the tools for the apprentices, the trainer time, the salaries.

But then the levy turns out to be £500,000 – so the cost of the apprenticeship scheme goes from £2.5m to £2.7m. And the question then becomes, can they afford that £200,000 increase in cost?”

Verity Davidge, head of education and skills policy at EEF, agrees that many employers will not use their levy allowance.

Of the EEF members who are levy payers, says Davidge, a third said they would have to cut training budgets, and three quarters don’t think they’ll spend their full levy allowance.

And EEF, too, has seen a change in funding translate into fewer places for school leavers and more management courses.

“We do see some companies who have said they’re using them within their existing workforce. The big push at the moment is around leadership and management, so a lot of the management courses have taken off quite quickly,” Davidge explains.

This is a concern for EEF’s members, which comprise most of the manufacturing and engineering companies in the country, because it is in these sectors that the classic notion of a good apprenticeship – in which people learned on the job and progressed through a company for much or all of their career – was formed in the UK.

“About 75 percent of our members say they still generally recruit 16 to 18-year-olds,” Davidge says, because apprenticeships have “been very much a means of securing the skills they need for the future.

For our sector, a level two apprenticeship is never an endpoint.

It’s always a stepping stone.

Of all the apprentices at the manufacturing companies I speak to, it’s never a case that they’ve just done a level two or even just a level three, they’re on level four, five, six, they do degree-level qualifications.”

“Our concern is that if so much money is targeted towards those higher-funded management apprenticeships, actually we’re not targeting it at young people, people who need level two qualifications to move on to level three.

The government’s Industrial Strategy says we need technicians, well, let’s make sure there’s enough money to fund technician apprenticeships.”

“There shouldn’t be an age limit on apprenticeships”, says Davidge – Neil Carberry, too, says that “the important thing is not the age of who is doing an apprenticeship” – but Davidge, Carberry, and Crawley all argue that the system of funding for apprenticeships as it currently stands is inflexible and that this inflexibility is pushing businesses to compensate, quite rationally, in this way.

All three recommend what Neil Carberry calls “a flexible skills levy, so companies can fund the things that make a real difference, not specifically one type of training”. Verity Davidge says that “employers were promised ‘this is your money, and if you train apprentices, you can spend it and you’ll get back more than you put in’.

Those goalposts have firmly been shifted, to a point where employers don’t even think they’re visible.”

In October of last year, as management became the second most common apprenticeship subject, the DfE’s permanent secretary, Jonathan Slater, told the Public Accounts Committee that it was “very early days in the new levy, and we are watching it closely”.

If the trend becomes more pronounced over time, it may grow to have a profound effect on the people who need apprenticeships most of all.

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National Apprenticeship Week 2018: More than 8,400 roles up for grabs now – and the one job that pays the most

It’s National Apprenticeship week in the UK, and right now, figures show there are currently 8,400 positions up for grabs, in fields spanning from education to engineering and even trainee legal roles.

Job search-engine Adzuna, estimates there are currently 8,374 advertised apprenticeship vacancies available in the UK, offering an average salary of £14,759 – significantly more than the government’s £3.50 minimum wage for young, trained workers.

Where are they?

Those seeking immediate employment should look to London and the South East – where the vast majority of positions appear to be clustered.

Jobseekers seeking a training-scheme have 2,484 openings to choose from in the Greater London region, and 1,088 in the South East.

However, outside of the capital, there are also plenty of roles to be filled.

The cities home to the most advertised apprenticeship vacancies are Manchester (198), Birmingham (166), Leeds (127), Bristol (117) and Reading (110), all worth considering for potential applicants.

But what field offers the best pay?

Apprentices in the legal sector can expect the highest pay, with advertised wages in this area of £23,904.

Engineering placements follow close behind, with an average salary of £22,512 on offer for apprenticeship schemes.

Teaching placements (£20,814), consultancy positions (£18,864), and maintenance openings (£18,461) round-off the top five most lucrative apprenticeship opportunities.

However, these well-paid positions are not necessarily the most readily available.

The sectors currently offering most apprenticeship positions are IT (1,085), hospitality and catering (1,046), and teaching (740) while there are only 9 legal opportunities currently available in the entire country.

Doug Monro, co-founder of Adzuna, said: “Increasing apprenticeships is crucial to unlocking the skills crisis currently constraining our key industries.

“The government has set an ambitious target to help encourage young blood in skills shortage areas like engineering and teaching.

“Publicising and filling these opportunities will be key. Developing further flexible options like graduate apprenticeships will help encourage applicants who wish to study alongside learning on the job, and this should be expanded further.

“Another issue is that apprenticeships are currently clustered in the South East corner of the country, and opportunities in the other regions of the UK need to be fostered.

“With university tuition fees at an all-time high, more young people are looking at alternative ways to up-skill after school, without the hefty price tag.

“Apprenticeships offer a cost-effective way of training on the job as well as developing new talent in skills shortage areas. This makes them a win-win solution for both employers and job seekers.”

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Apprenticeships: Almost half of company managers fear Government will miss target as numbers fall

Almost half of the company managers think the Government will fail to hit its target of creating three million apprenticeships by 2020, new research has found.

The Government set the target in 2015 but official figures show the numbers of new apprenticeships slumped last year.

Of 1,640 managers polled by the Chartered Management Institute (CMI), 51 percent expressed concern that the country will need greater investment in skills after Brexit as the number of EU migrants falls.

More than a fifth said delays in standards for apprenticeship schemes being approved and implemented had reduced the number of those taking them up.

About 900 new apprentices have been waiting to start an apprenticeship in management since the standard is approved in August, the CMI said.

When asked how the number of people taking up apprenticeships could be increased, 80 percent of managers said they wanted the freedom to spend the levy on small businesses in their supply chains.

The news comes as National Apprenticeship Week begins on Monday. It suggests further problems with the government’s programme intended to boost vocational education as an alternative to university.

The aims of the apprenticeship levy have been broadly welcomed by businesses since it was introduced in April last year. The CMI’s survey shows 63 percent agreed that the apprenticeship levy, which pays for the scheme, is necessary to increase employer investment in skills.

However, the way the levy has been implemented has attracted criticism from many firms. All companies with a turnover of £3m or more must pay 0.5 percent of their payroll costs into a central pot for training. But the understanding of how the scheme works and the benefits companies receive from it is poor and take-up rates have fallen.

According to the Department for Education’s latest figures, 114,400 apprenticeships were started in England in the three months from August to October 2017, 49,800 down on the same period the previous year.

Less than half of managers surveyed by the CMI said they expect that number of new starts to increase in the next 12 months.

Petra Wilton, the Director of strategy for CMI, said the Government now needs to do far more to widen access to the scheme and raise awareness about the benefits apprenticeships can deliver.

Apprenticeships and skills minister Anne Milton said the survey results showed managers back the levy. “I want businesses and everyone to get the skills they need to grow and feedback like this shows that apprenticeships are helping them do just that,” she said.

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Survey finds manufacturers divided over Apprenticeship Levy

Manufacturers are divided on the success of the Apprenticeship Levy, according to the In-Comm Training Barometer.

The survey, designed to assess UK industry’s propensity for training, revealed that just 55 percent of manufacturers believe it is working.

Of the 71 respondents, just over a fifth said they had taken on apprentices as a result of the Levy, which represents an increase in the face of an annual decline in the number of Apprenticeship starts over the last twelve months.

These results are due to be presented to Anne Milton, Minister for Skills and Apprenticeships, during a delegation to Westminster involving 50 employers and apprentices.

Gareth Jones, managing director of In-Comm Training said: “There has been a lot of debate around the success or failure of the Apprenticeship Levy and these results show the jury is still very much out.

“Companies are tapping into it and we have seen a number of them use it to increase or start using apprentices, which, compared to the national reduction in starts, has to be a good thing. Encouragingly, 89 percent also said they would employ apprentices in the near future.”

He added that anecdotal information received through the report indicates that managing directors and training managers believe there needs to be better communication, more transparency and an ability to use the Levy to boost other forms of training.

“A good number even indicated they wouldn’t mind going back to the old days of the Engineering Industry Training Board, where every firm paid a Levy but could spend the money on all forms of training, not just apprenticeships,” said Jones.

The In-Comm Training Barometer asked manufacturers about the new Trailblazer Standards – where employers dictate training according to their needs – with two-thirds saying they didn’t understand them and 87 percent of those respondents citing ‘content’ as the main stumbling block.

When it comes to the appetite for different types of Apprenticeships, only 32 percent of companies are prepared to let their apprentices stay off-site for 18 months to complete their full-time Apprenticeships.

“It is vital that a tri-party collaboration happens here and everyone plays their part…industry to allow individuals the time to learn, providers to deliver industry-led content at high levels with no shortcuts and Government with funded initiatives to help industry upskill and become more productive,” said Jones.

“Results from the Barometer also showed that companies, especially SMEs, aren’t preparing their workforce for the next industrial revolution, with just 45 percent of respondents saying they are futureproofing their skills for Industry 4.0.”

The Training Barometer was completed by small, medium and large manufacturers, supplying 12 different engineering sectors.

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Apprenticeship Levy a “lose-lose” scenario

Dame Judith Hackitt has called upon the government to rethink the Apprenticeship Levy, which she says has turned a “win-win” scenario to a “lose-lose” scenario. Dame Judith was addressing numerous captains of industry at the Semta Skills Awards in London.

During her speech, she said that the new system, which finances apprenticeships, needed urgent radical reforms to reverse the ‘collapse’ of new start apprenticeships.

“We are not asking for the levy to be scrapped but it does need a rethink if it is to achieve what we all want and what the UK needs for the future.

“We have seen the number of new starts collapse with many companies postponing or halting apprenticeships. What should have been a win-win has become a lose-lose.

“To train the talented individuals we are going to see here tonight costs more than £27,000. Providers are reluctant to offer courses, which cost more than the cap, so there is a need to recognize the true cost of different types of apprenticeship not have one simple cap.

“There needs to be greater flexibility for employers and providers to agree on payment schedules especially in sectors like ours where upfront costs are high.

“The expiry date of funds needs to increase – an average engineering apprenticeship takes 48 months.

“The rules on transfer of unused levy need to be relaxed – moving the current cap at 10% to 50% would stimulate levy funds being used across supply chains.

“The levy should be used for what it says on the tin ¬- apprenticeships, without dilution to fund other training schemes.

“And the process of approval of apprenticeship standards must be streamlined. We know that the IFA has taken time to set up, but if we are to achieve the momentum we need on apprenticeships we cannot have the delays and deferrals, which we have been seeing.

“We all need to work together to make this as easy to implement as possible, not create unnecessary obstacles when we all want the same thing – more and more young people taking up apprenticeships.

“These conversations need to continue elsewhere – and urgently.”

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People said I was ‘too smart’ to do an apprenticeship

Snobbery around not going to university didn’t stop Natasha Meek from finding another way to learn.

“But you’re smart.” This was one of the many responses I received when I told tutors and peers about my wish to go for an apprenticeship. It wasn’t until I attended the college that I realized that people had misconceptions about who should take on apprenticeships and that university places were for ‘gifted people’. Unlike most families, my parents were apprenticeship advocates – they both achieved their career goals through earning and learning. In many ways, I knew that I would too.

Pressure

However, there’s a great deal of pressure on A-level students to take a route that may not suit them. So much so that in January of last year I began applying to go university. I had always wanted to be a journalist but the course descriptions didn’t fit what I was after – university has to be a worthwhile choice if you’re signing up to years of student loans and debt. When I confessed to my tutor and friends that I didn’t want to spend three years of my youth at university, all of a sudden it felt like other students were part of a community of which I couldn’t be part. Classmates would ask me which university I had applied for, and as soon as I told them I hadn’t applied they would swiftly talk to someone else. I wasn’t like them anymore.

Understanding how you wish to start your career

It wasn’t until my college started an employment tutorial that I began to feel accepted again. I had a wonderful tutor who rebuilt my confidence and encouraged me to take on work experience. In every college, there should be more space for students to explore different options. Being an apprentice doesn’t mean you’re less clever, or better than anyone doing a degree. It’s about understanding how you want to learn and how you wish to start your career.

In November, I became an apprentice journalist at Johnston Press. So far, the 18-month apprenticeship has been a whirlwind of wonderful and challenging events. I spend three days a week at the office, one “news day” where I visit the court and one day studying for my NCTJ qualification at an accredited college. There’s something to be said for putting your studies into practice and the value of an apprenticeship lies in the ability to seek help from experienced professionals.

Meeting the PM

Last week I had the opportunity to speak to the Prime Minister Theresa May about the importance of apprenticeships and how we must eliminate the snobbery that still surrounds them. “We want to make sure other routes like apprenticeships and technical education are there but also are valued,” she said. As a young person, this ambition to build a country with a workforce based on both students and apprentices really resonates with me. We need to stop treating university like a one-size-fits-all form of education. The main way to create a united country lies in education, whether you choose academia or not. Apprenticeships and degrees need to have a guaranteed value. Students shouldn’t have to end up with £60,000 of debt for studying. Nor should apprentices have to manage on minimal wages.

The world is changing

Apprenticeships are not for short-term gain by employers and should be treated as a valid and valued option. Much like the stress of university interviews, searching for the right apprenticeship requires the same amount of resilience and determination. My advice to aspiring apprentices would be to tick off extra-curricular roles and make an effort to gain experience and useful skills. It’s time to get serious about the importance of education. Educate today’s youth and you educate tomorrow’s. The world is changing.

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House of Lords lambasts apprenticeship levy

Ahead of National Apprenticeship Week, members of the House of Lords demanded an explanation for the alarming drop in apprenticeship starts following the introduction of the levy.

Members of the House of Lords discussed the alarming drop in apprenticeship starts at a select committee on 27 February, concluding that the first year of the apprenticeship levy has been “woefully inadequate.”

The number of people embarking on apprenticeships fell by 35% in November 2017; and has plunged 60% since the levy was introduced.

Lord Forsyth of Drumlean was keen to know why a significant portion of levy money was spent on existing employees, rather than attracting new recruits. “Only 43% of employees on a level two or three apprenticeships were aware they were doing an apprenticeship!” he said. “Was the levy really designed to send senior people on MBA courses? Perhaps I’m being naive, but I didn’t think that was its purpose!”

Dr. Hilary Steedman, Senior Research Fellow, Centre for Economic Performance, London School of Economics, explained, “It’s easier for providers who are struggling to recruit apprentices to offer apprenticeships to employees already in place.”

Many businesses are also stepping back until the dust settles around the confusion the new standards have created.

Professor Alison Fuller, Pro-Director (Research and Development), Institute of Education, said, “The levy has played a role in destabilizing the system. That isn’t to say it’s a bad thing to try and do, however, to make the employers an active partner will take time.

“There has been a view from a number of stakeholders to stand back and wait until everything calms down. We have seen this result in a drop in young people starting apprenticeships.”

“We are in a crisis of significant transition from frameworks to standards,” Anthony Jenkins said. “There are 200 standards, and another 300 in the pipeline. It will take another two to three years to complete.”

“Is this transitional, or have we got something badly wrong?” Lord Kerr asked. “A number of bigger companies have decided to treat the levy as a tax. They will carry on with the apprenticeship schemes but don’t expect to get anything back.

“A number of colleges have said that the job of setting standards is an extraordinarily bureaucratic job. If you’re saying finalizing standards will take two-three years, this transition period will last quite a long time. Should we be worried that it has increased the cost to businesses but produced a lower number of apprentices?”

Not necessarily, according to some members of the committee who believe that the emphasis should be on raising the standard of apprenticeships, rather than the number of them on offer. The majority of apprenticeships in the UK are level two – just above GCSE level. The skills crisis in the UK stems from a shortage of workers at level three or four.

Antony Jenkins, Chair, Institute for Apprenticeships, said, “We’re seeing a higher level of apprenticeships. It’s too early to see it definitively, but I think this is transitional and we are seeing some positives, such as higher quality apprentices.”

The assumption had always been that a significant amount of levy funding would be consumed by non-levy paying businesses, i.e. those too small to reach the payment threshold. Smaller businesses typically offer more apprenticeships, however, a myriad of red tape has prevented them accessing the funds they are entitled to.

Steedman said, “I am concerned that the emphasis in helping employers cope with these changes has been on levy-paying employers. These are tremendously important, but it has meant that the vast bulk of small companies who provide the majority of apprenticeships were just given a website and a number to call. It’s been made too complicated. It needs to be simplified.”

Lord Kerr of Kinlochard asked when we could expect to see the 3 million new apprentices that the government promised by 2020.

“We shouldn’t have the target and we shouldn’t be driven by it,” said Steedman. “I would like to see fewer apprenticeships and more apprenticeships going to young people. There are too many low-quality apprenticeships. Some young people on apprenticeships are not well served and they deserve better.

Jenkins said that the target is still achievable, however, it is the institute’s priority is to ensure high-quality apprenticeships over quantity.

“I had thought that was your job to deliver 3 million apprentices, Mr. Jenkins,” Lord Kerr quipped in response.

“The architecture of the whole system seems to be woefully inadequate,” Lord Darling of Roulanish concluded. “Everyone has a finger in the pie but no one is in charge, and if you look at it from the viewpoint of the apprentice, who feels they are being given an inadequate training service, they have nowhere to go.”

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