Apprenticeship

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Apprenticeship Delivery Board


Articles

  • Aug.20.2018: ories heading for failure over election goal of 3m apprentices. Ministers face an embarrassing failure to meet their manifesto target of creating three million apprentices by mid-2020. The govt vowed to create 3m new apprenticeships between 2015 and April 2020, but the rate at which they are being taken up would need to more than double for the target to be achieved. The 3m pledge was first made by David Cameron at GE-2015, and renewed by Theresa May in her election manifesto at GE-2017. But research by the EEF, the manufacturers’ association, has found that there is little prospect of the target being reached. It blames a controversial levy to pay for training that was imposed on the biggest employers last year. In an interview with the Institute for Government think tank in November,Nick Boles, who was skills minister in 2014-16 when both the target and the levy were introduced, revealed that the three million target was an electioneering ploy. Anne Milton, the skills minister, said: "Word Salad". Henry Zeffman, The Times.
  • May.05.2018: Universities cash in with courses for ‘apprentices’. Universities are exploiting the apprenticeship levy by setting up dozens of MBA courses costing up to £40,000. A new market in these master’s degrees has sprung up because employers with a wage bill of more than £3m must now spend 0.5% on apprenticeships. Rather than take on school-leavers, some use the money to fund extra training for managers. Critics said that the approach would lead to a proliferation of overqualified managers who “couldn’t bang a nail in” rather than trained workers who are useful to the economy. Investment management firms, insurers and the Ministry of Defence send staff on MBA apprenticeships. Nicola Woolcock, The Times.
  • Apr.06.2018: Government’s flagship apprenticeship scheme set to cost businesses millions of pounds. More than £1.28 billion of the cash that has been paid into the apprenticeship levy by companies is “languishing” in National Apprenticeship Service accounts, according to analysis by the Open University. The Apprenticeship Levy, which came into effect Apr.2017, forces companies with a wage bill of more than £3bn to pay 0.5% of it to the Education and Skills Funding Agency (ESFA), which is part of the Department for Education. The companies have until April 2019 to draw down the funding, which they must use to take on new apprentices, or train existing staff. Researchers found that just eight% of the levy funds have so far been used, meaning that the vast majority of businesses have not yet withdrawn the cash they have paid in. The Open University's new report, called The Apprenticeship Levy: One Year On, warns that the policy, which was meant as a boost for vocational skills, could end up costing businesses £millions. If organisations in England continue to use the funding at the same rate, they risk losing as much as £139m a month from Apr.2019. Camilla Turner, The Telegraph.
  • Mar.30.3018: Apprenticeship levy failing its first test. Business leaders have demanded urgent reforms to how vocational training is funded after official figures revealed a 25% 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 policy, which became operational in Apr.2017, requires businesses with an annual wage bill of £3m or more to pay 0.5% of their payroll costs into an apprenticeship fund that they can access to pay for training. The fund is topped up with public money. Tim Thomas, director of employment and skills at EEF, the manufacturers' organisation, said that the figures should be “the final signal to government that now is the time for a review and change”. The CBI has called for businesses to be allowed to pool more of their levy with others near by, or in the same sector, and to combine with local colleges to create centres for excellence for apprenticeships. The Federation of Small Businesses wants large companies to be able to share their levy allocations with suppliers more easily. James Hurley, The Times.
  • Mar.22.2018: The future of apprenticeships. The New Statesman and BAE Systems hosted a roundtable discussion assessing the state of apprenticeships, and the factors set to affect in-work training. Apprenticeships continue to be a hotly debated topic. Policy developments such as the Apprenticeship Levy, funded by employers with annual paybills in excess of £3m to create apprenticeships, have drawn companies into intense conversations with Westminster. With the world of work rapidly changing, it's the perfect time to take stock of the role apprentices play in the workforce, and how training can be improved. The New Statesman and BAE Systems hosted a group of industry experts and decision-makers at the company’s state-of-the-art Academy for Skills & Knowledge in Samlesbury, Lancashire, to discuss the future of apprenticeships. Mark Hendrick Labour MP for Preston; David Holmes BAE Systems. The New Statesman.
  • Feb.25.2018: Apprentice levy is nothing more than a tax. Welcome to the parallel, insane universe of the apprenticeship levy. Notionally, it is a relatively small charge on payrolls used to fund training and investment in skills. Some 75% of manufacturers have complained in an EEF survey that they are unable to spend the money now tied up in their apprenticeship levy fund. The problems with the scheme are many. This is a tax, plain and simple. It has been badly planned and poorly executed, and has had the opposite impact to what was intended. Iain Dey, The Times.

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