Government’s commitment to apprenticeships has been heralded as another step in the right direction. But is it working, and does business really understand how to benefit from an apprentice programme? Dan Scott, Managing Director of PHX Training, explores.
The new impetus for apprenticeships provides an opportunity for employers to there is new impetus to the idea backed by the government apprenticeships drive but businesses large and small appear to be slow to appreciate the concept and how it can work for them. The overriding concept of modern apprenticeships is to offer business the added support of another person, or people, with reduced costs and little inconvenience in training and administration. In terms of steps to take or ‘what do I need to do’ as a business, it is really quite simple. Before you take any steps, first decide why you are taking on an apprentice, or a number of apprentices, and what role they will perform and how the business can benefit for the short and longer term if they were to be successful. To access the scheme, contact your local provider through the National Apprenticeship Service website www.apprenticeships.org.uk where you can find information, advice and contact details.
Once you have found a provider, they should conduct a training needs analysis, and the next step will be for the training organisation to forward a small number of suitable CVs of candidates who would be a possible match for the kind of work and the role available. This would be followed by an interview with the candidates, which will take the process to the point of selection. Criteria will include personality, qualifications currently held, other qualities such as inter-personal skills and overall fit for the role. Bringing the two parties together will quickly progress the process towards selection. For the employer, the incentives include the grant of £1500 from the government apprenticeship scheme towards the overall cost of creating the role over 12 months.
This is paid after three months continuous employment of the apprentice as a ‘reward’ for the commitment to job creation. Then there is the benefit of another pair of hands and, depending how effective he or she is, the effect of another person learning the culture of the organisation without any pre-conceived ideas as the company grows. Indeed, it seems UK businesses consider skills shortages and recruitment difficulties a bigger threat to performance than soaring oil prices and declining consumer spending, and more than a quarter of these rate this form of vocational training higher than any other qualification. Apprenticeships help to equip a workforce with the practical skills and qualifications your organisation needs now and in the future. Over 130,000 workplaces offer apprentice places as the UK starts to take it more seriously and it represents an. Investment by employers and the returns can be significant. The benefits that apprentices bring, including increased productivity, improved competitiveness and a committed and competent workforce in a cost-effective manner.
As a benchmark, those apprentices aged 16-18 and 18-20 will be paid a rate of £2.65 per hour, while those aged 21-plus will receive the minimum national low rate of £6.19 per hour. This also means the risk is small for the employer, and even less for the apprentice given that they could be out of work otherwise. Training in the relevant subject area, whether business and admin, customer service or IT, will be organised by the training provider and will take place on the job or outside of work or a combination of both depending on the specific role. Throughout this process, the training provider will be assessing with the employer – and the person concerned, whether it is working or not. Both the employer and the apprentice enter into a contract for 12 months. If at any time the employer thinks the arrangement is not working they can step out of it. As the relationship develops, the trainer should act as a facilitator and mediator especially if there are any conflicts for whatever reason or misunderstandings. Most apprenticeships these days are assessed to Level 2, the equivalent of GCSEs and the former NVQs. In terms of ROI, a recent study carried out by the University of Warwick Institute for Employment Research (IER) demonstrated that apprenticeships are an investment by employers and where the investment is nurtured, the returns to the employer are significant.
Based on detailed employer case studies in seven sectors, the study was commissioned and scrutinised by the business leaders who form the Apprenticeships Ambassador Network (AAN). The aim of the study was to provide a detailed assessment of the contribution of employers to the provision of apprenticeship training, and to indicate the long term benefits to the employer. The study concluded that the costs of apprenticeship training is recouped relatively quickly. Recruiting from the external labour market is seen as more expensive because of recruitment and induction costs. Supply in the external labour market is limited. Apprentices provide a pool of skilled people to select from for future promotion. Apprentices are seen as loyal, more likely to stay with the company and steeped in company values, and Apprentices bring new ideas into organisations. Because of its success, the expansion of the apprenticeships programme is a high priority for the Government, and over the past few years there has been a huge rise in the number and range of businesses offering apprenticeships as a way of tackling their skills shortages.
Within the public sector, they are also relevant to a whole range of groups including Local Government, the Armed Forces, the NHS, the Civil Service, the Criminal Justice sector and the Education sector (schools, colleges and universities). Yet, the public sector seems to be lagging behind and figures show that although it accounts for 20 per cent of the national workforce, it employs less than 10 per cent of all apprentices. Indeed, as a provider, we believe many more organisations could be taking advantage of the benefits that apprenticeships bring as a way of unlocking talent within their local communities, ensuring that they have a workforce equipped with the skills they need for the future. There are economic and social reasons for the public sector to employ apprentices. They are a way of developing the skills of local people, bringing young people into the workforce, involving the local community in the delivery of local services. Training the organisation’s current workforce and growing the workforce of the future; and increasing staff morale, productivity and retention.
For those businesses wishing to take on someone more senior, the same grant still applies for all business reasons. A course can be arranged in leadership and management, with a higher level qualification at Level 3 and evidence that they have covered extended areas of course work at a different grade. The relevance of apprenticeships has never been wider, with professional services groups lining up to take on bright young things straight from school or college. Professional services are currently facing a ‘talent crunch’ and the total employment requirement is projected to increase markedly with traditional recruitment pools proving insufficient. Employers are reporting skills shortages amongst their new recruits in key areas such as customer handling, oral communication and team working particularly. As a result, the new Professional Services Higher Apprenticeship is now available for employers to use, creating a new, nationally recognised structured route to careers in audit, tax and consulting occupations for example. Further development will enable those who wish to progress to chartered professional status in accounting, audit and tax. As the Government’s National Apprenticeship Service looks to the future, it is committed to broadening access to the scheme by making sure additional funding is made available to those 19-24 year-olds that need it most.
Another target of the scheme is to increase the proportion of the programme that is at Advanced or Higher Level by the end of 2013-14 and to fund at least 30 per cent more Higher Apprenticeships. The NAS is also busy preparing for the introduction of 24+ Advanced Learning Loans (for Apprenticeships aged 24 and above from August 2013). It wants to increase the number of apprentices from black and minority ethnic backgrounds and those with learning disabilities, so the momentum is increasing all the time. Geographically, there is a planned growth of apprenticeships in City Hubs centred on London and eight other UK cities to lead the way. They may have been slow to take off, but now it seems apprenticeships are becoming a recognised option, and should be a part of the employment landscape again for years to come, with benefits all round at many different levels in a diverse range of business sectors.
