SHAMING and shocking. Those are the two words that spring to mind, to describe the fiasco known as the Apprenticeship Levy.
Here we are, a society where we want our young people to get on, to learn the skills required for the modern, globally competitive workplace. At the same time, we have employers desperately short of suitably qualified workers.
Meanwhile, too, several of our universities are not fit for purpose, offering courses that should not be degree subjects and providing a standard of teaching that is lamentable.
Having gone from a situation in which we were pushing school-leavers to head for higher education we’ve come to recognise, belatedly, that university is not for all, and that some, many, would be better off avoiding running up the debt of a student loan and earning money and advancing their careers.
So, you would think that the apprenticeships would be the answer, that they would provide the perfect fit for our needs. You might suppose as well that the powers-that-be would see this and do everything in their grasp to make it happen and quickly.
The first is right, the second is wrong. Apprentice schemes should fill the gap, but the government is hopelessly slow, unable even, to create an efficient, workable structure – one that caters for the requirements of our children and employers.
This week, the Association of Employment and Learning Providers has become the latest body to join the chorus of criticism surrounding apprenticeships. The system, they argue, is too complex and rigid, and must be reformed.
Employers with an annual wage bill of more than £3m are obliged to pay 0.5 percent of their payroll costs into a fund for training. The Co-operative Group has revealed that £600m was returned to the Treasury last year because businesses could not meet the restrictive criteria for drawing on the cash that they’d paid in. The British Retail Consortium, UKHospitality, techUK, the Recruitment and Employment Federation, Co-op and now the Association of Employment and Learning Providers are calling for an overhaul.
Which begs the question: how long does the list have to get, how many heavyweight bodies must add their voices, before ministers act?
This, let us not forget, is their big idea. The Apprenticeship Levy was launched by the Conservatives in 2017. This, after years of criticism that a swathe of school-leavers, not to mention businesses that sought skilled staff, were being ignored and left wanting in a system that was prioritising “going to uni”.
It never used to be like this. At my boys’ school in an industrial town in the North of England, some of our number went to university and college, a few joined the local bank or building society as trainees, a handful signed up for the military, while a large proportion, entered the shipyard as apprentices.
Nobody thought any less about the latter group. They were acquiring a trade, as joiners, plumbers, electricians. Once qualified, they could remain or they could leave and join a firm or set up on their own. As far as we university lot were concerned, they were our mates and they were the ones with money, with leather jackets and motorbikes, and girls. And they had prospects, just like us. Some even went to university later.
It was a structure that worked. Then, the Conservatives, led by Mrs Thatcher, thought it should be scrapped and replaced by the Youth Training Scheme, which turned out to be a disaster.
Once coveted, the craft apprenticeships virtually disappeared. Britain’s industrial base suffered as a result, but this was the era of moving towards a service economy and all the attention on high was focused on the City and professional services. People who should have acquired valuable skills were left with none; while employers recruited from overseas, within the EU.
Finally caving into pressure, the Tories decided to boost training. The trouble is that they went about in a cack-handed manner. Today, businesses are demanding change – they have, ever since the measures were introduced. But the calls have reached crescendo level.
It’s the sort of problem that ought to be right up Rishi Sunak’s street. He likes to portray himself as a can do, will do dynamo, pledging to abolish red tape and making things smoother. Well, sorting out apprenticeships fits that bill.
It also plays to his “levelling up” agenda, to changing the UK employment landscape post-Brexit and to fill the void left by departing EU workers, to generate growth and increase productivity and to have a sound industrial strategy.
All the boxes are there to be ticked. But there is no sign of meaningful change. As I say, shaming and shocking.
