Apprenticeship week is a fantastic initiative that Britannic support whole heartily. By increasing the awareness of the value of apprenticeships we are not only providing options to 18-year-olds who are thinking twice about university, but we can also help plug the digital skills gap and potentially encourage the lost generation of over 50’s that left work during lockdown to go back to work.

However, to accelerate and grow the number of apprenticeships the government needs to reform the apprenticeship levy that was introduced in April 2017 where employers with an annual wage bill of more than £3 million pay 0.5 per cent of payroll costs into a fund for training. The Co-op, one of the world’s largest mutuals, revealed more than £600 million, could have funded over 60,000 apprenticeships, was returned to the Treasury in 2022. This is due to the levy not being used by businesses because it is too complex and is rigid with access to unsuitable courses and programme lengths so many businesses are finding it is unsuitable for them.

The British Retail Consortium, UKHospitality, techUK and the Recruitment and Employment Confederation, it is calling for an overhaul of the levy to make it more flexible to support apprentices and existing employees to acquire and develop the skills that are needed in the workplace. The process also needs to be simplified and provide more support to encourage young people and smaller employers to use it.

A New View on Apprenticeships
We need to change the perception on apprenticeships which were and may still be viewed as lowly paid schemes for manual workers who left school with no qualifications. Now major businesses offer apprenticeships in technology, science, engineering, and business leadership where an 18-year-old get paid a decent salary, get trained on the job and study for a qualification and even a degree. Times have changed and universities are demanding high costs fees and both students and parents are evaluating if the traditional route of University is required. For those that are unsure, can’t afford it or don’t want to be saddled with debt when they finish or want to get on the ladder straight away apprenticeships are the way forward.

Also, 16% of people that join an apprenticeship earn more money than the starter salary they would get if they got a job straight out of the University, and they are not lumbered with the debt. So, the return on investment is higher for some than the University trajectory and students benefit from life skills and being in the workplace and not in full time education enabling them to get ahead faster.

Boosting the Economy
The Department of Education reports that 277,315 18 year olds in the UK were accepted by Universities and only 38,480 joined an apprenticeship scheme. We need to increase the awareness of kudos of apprenticeships schemes so more young adults join them to help boost the economy and to learn new skills that we urgently need in the workplace.

Apprenticeships in technology can help the economy plug the digital skills gap which needs to be addressed urgently for the economy’s future. The digital economy contributes £400m to the UK each day, growing more quickly than the economy itself. According to new government figures the digital skills gap is estimated to cost the economy £63 billion a year.

Companies need to grow and nurture tech talent teaching students the digital skills that are required in telecoms, unified communications, AI, machine learning and data analysis. There is a great shortage of these, and we need to close the gap.

Apprenticeships are not just for the young
Apprenticeships are not just for school leavers and can be for new and existing employees of any age who want to re-train or upskill.

Since the pandemic hundreds of thousands of people have resigned from their jobs, lockdown made people re-evaluate their lives and this is known as the ‘Great Resignation’. Added to that nearly 400,000 of people over 50 have vanished from the work force which is having a detrimental effect on the economy. The government are planning to introduce a drive to get more older people back in the workplace to retrain with shorter apprenticeship programmes.

Calling all Tech Apprentices
Worryingly it has recently been revealed that there has been a 34% decline in technology, engineering and manufacturing apprentices. Naturally this of grave concern considering the cost of the digital skills gap to the economy. Schools, parents, the government and businesses need to come together to educate students on technology being a choice for a career.

Surprisingly the views on tech from the younger generation are not what you would think. Only a third (32%) of 18–24-year-olds who are not currently working in tech believe that the industry offers a wide range of career choices, and just a quarter (26%) think that it currently provides excellent career opportunities. Meanwhile, three quarters (74%) do not think that careers in technology are likely to be some of the most futureproof, and over a fifth (22%) said that they don’t know anything about careers in technology at all.

Lack of Diversity
The tech industry is known for its lack of diversity and this has to change. Although recent efforts have been made and there has been a big diversity push in recent years, three’s research found that two-fifths (40%) of businesses currently struggle to recruit entry level tech employees from underrepresented groups.

Consequently, diversity in the sector is still far too low: the latest figures show that only 15% of tech workers are from diverse ethnic backgrounds, and just 19% of the tech workforce is female, compared with 49% of the total UK workforce.

According to the research, 71% of tech workers aged 18-24 have felt uncomfortable in a job because of their gender, ethnicity, socio-economic background or neurodevelopmental condition.

It’s Our Future
To accelerate apprenticeships in the workplace and particularly in tech there is a lot of work to do but we must address the digital skills gap, diversity issues and educate students that tech is an exciting, valuable and worth career to embark on. After all it’s our future and theirs!