Government subsidised apprenticeships have become little more than a source of cheap labour and a means to claim government grants, writes property maintenance and refurbishment entrepreneur Will Davies, Founder of Aspect.co.uk.
There are over one million young unemployed in this country and they are becoming totally demoralised by the job market. If we, as employers, cannot provide young people with training schemes that they can commit to, and believe in, the whole country will be clearing up the financial ramifications for decades to come. I have been a campaigner for many years for a return to the traditional style of on the on-the-job apprenticeship that was pioneered in this country from the industrial revolution onwards. The Richards Review of Government supported apprenticeship schemes, published at the end of last year, illustrates how bad the situation has become.
Entrepreneur Doug Richard was tasked by Business Secretary Vince Cable and Education Secretary Michael Gove to re-evaluate the role played by the apprenticeship within the mix of modern employment training. His conclusions were that the definition of an apprenticeship had been ‘stretched too far’ and that many schemes were allowed to claim government support but only lasted a few weeks and were of little or no value. In 2011 457,200 individuals began some sort of apprenticeship training at a cost to the tax payer on £1.2 billion. It is impossible to teach genuine skills in a few weeks. We have to give young people confidence in what they are doing otherwise they will not respond and give of their best. I firmly believe that in the worst cases, subsidised apprenticeships have dissolved into little more than a source of cheap labour and a means to claim government grants.
Revision of the British pension system has hit the news again this week and the problems that we are storing up for ourselves with an ageing population and the cost of social care in the future are often discussed. But if we cannot do something about getting more young people into worthwhile employment we will not be able to afford to deal with these problems. Currently more than 20 percent of Britain’s under-24s are without work or training. We have to be able to devise a better system to put a higher proportion of these young people into a position that they can pay taxes and contribute to society. If we do not, our financial future will be bleak for many decades to come.
Employers know how long apprenticeships should last if they are successfully to import employable skills to young people. To this end, employers should be designing apprenticeships and not training agencies but I do not think there is any value for the tax payer in the government subsidising schemes which last for less than twelve months. aspect.co.uk has returned to a system of old fashioned apprenticeships for our young workers. We are very pleased with all the young employees that we have hired and I can only urge other employers that if they can give young people an opportunity to demonstrate how keen they are to work; they will be astonished with the results. aspect.co.uk organised a series of apprentice boot camps last year to select candidates for their apprenticeships. Youngsters were put through a series of fitness, literacy and numeracy tests. They were able to commit to our scheme because we were able to demonstrate that the reward was genuine on-the-job training.
The individuals who were prepared to contribute the most to the boot camp were the individuals who aspect.co.uk has benefited most from employing. At aspect.co.uk, we have been very pleased with the youngsters who we have taken on as apprentices and they have demonstrated that given the right opportunities young people are keen to forge careers for themselves. I would urge other employers to think about designing job specific apprenticeships that impart the skills that are required for success in their business areas. Without doubt there are some malingerers who use the unemployment statistics as a reason for not working and staying at home on the sofa watching Jeremy Kyle on TV. But if care is taken in recruiting the right candidates, and our boot camps have proved an invaluable tool in this regard, young apprentices can be the future life blood of businesses. Please give our youngsters the chance and the training that they deserve.
