REC responds to apprenticeships announcements by the government

Commenting on today’s apprenticeship announcements by the Prime Minister, REC Deputy Chief Executive Kate Shoesmith said:

“Cutting the cost of apprenticeships is useful to SMEs in a slow economy and when the volume of young people aged under 24 years old starting an apprenticeship has hardly increased for 20 years. But today’s announcements are not the concerted reform of apprenticeships required to better contribute to overcoming labour shortages, shortages which risk costing the economy up to £39bn every year – just short of two entire Elizabeth Lines.

“The lack of bolder reform today means the lack of flexibility to the apprenticeship levy remains a massive contributor to the skills system not working. This is because the funds are only available to those who have the same employer for at least one year – which is the time it takes to complete an apprenticeship. Out of the one million temporary workers on assignment in the UK every day, we believe around 960,000 are ineligible for levy funding. This underlines the need for the levy money to pay for modular and shorter courses. Reforming the levy to provide more individuals with a route to skilled work will boost business growth and productivity at a critical time for the economy.”

Ends

Notes to editors:

EDSK - Broken ladders. Why the ‘ladder of opportunity’ is broken for so many young people, and how to fix it – December 2023.

In December 2023, REC contributed to the Broken Ladders study by think-tank EDSK. REC is supportive of questioning whether learners who are already qualified at or above Level 6 (equivalent to a full undergraduate degree) should be able to draw on levy funds for their apprenticeship. And REC is supportive of a review that would look at preventing employers from accessing further levy funding for apprenticeships if they have trained more apprentices aged 25+ than those aged 16-24. In REC’s view this maintains flexibility in terms of who they recruit while also ensuring that young people remain the primary focus of apprenticeships in England.

Table p.8 of the EDSK report:
 

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