Pat Allen, pictured, Chairman of the Fire & Security Association (FSA), looks at the Government’s apprenticeship funding reforms.
Before they came to power in May 2015, the Conservatives had demonstrated a clear desire to increase the number of apprenticeships in the UK. Speeches, articles and videos from ministers, MPs and members of the House of Lords stressed the opportunities apprenticeships provided, and reiterated the party’s desire to ensure as many apprenticeship places as possible were available during the years when they formed one half of the Coalition government.
This commitment to increased numbers was underpinned by a firm pledge to ensure that apprenticeships met the needs of employers and delivered value to employers and apprentices for the time and money they invested. A series of consultations, reviews and reports led to ‘apprenticeship’ becoming legally protected term – a move which aimed to give them the public recognition they had long deserved, and ensure that any investment made by employers and government delivered the right outcomes.
But ambition will only go so far. To ensure that as many places were available and reinforce the central role of the employer in driving the skills agenda, the government has introduced a range of funding reforms, once of which is the creation of the Apprenticeship Levy. This programme will involve businesses paying in 0.5 per cent of their annual pay bill to HMRC, which will be stored in a digital bank account and accessible for up to 24 months and bolstered by a 10 per cent top up from the Government.
I suspect the Levy won’t have much of an initial impact on our industry because of the high volume of small and micro businesses within it, but it may have a much broader, holistic benefit as part of the wider apprenticeship funding reforms. And, if it can encourage the larger companies in our industry to make a greater investment in apprenticeships, the Levy may play a role in raising the profile of our apprenticeship and our industry as a potential career option. This might sound like a small result, but if we can promote the opportunities on offer in this industry we should begin to attract the attention of the highly technically-literate school and college leavers who could potentially have a great career in our industry if they were more aware of the opportunities that it offers.
And if we’re going to have more applicants for apprenticeships we need to have firms willing to take them on. Hopefully, the Government’s decision to provide up to £18,000 of funding for our apprenticeship and their pledge to cover 100 per cent of the training costs for businesses who employ less than 50 people and take on 16-18 year-old apprentices will help encourage more firms to invest in apprenticeships, and, in doing so, invest in the future of the industry. This effort to encourage employer investment is at the heart of the Government’s apprenticeship funding reforms. Hopefully it will result in an increase in apprenticeship numbers in in our industry and across the wider economy, which will help combat sector and national skills shortages and provide young people with that crucial first opportunity to start their careers. Developing the new approach to apprenticeship funding has been complex, but the more we learn about it, the more positive it seems – for businesses, industries and those young people who want to make the most of the opportunities offered by becoming an apprentice.
