Rathbone launches campaign to boost numbers of minority ethnic apprentices

The charity is driving a push for recruitment after statistics showed that just nine per cent of apprentices in England come from BME backgrounds.

The aim is to recruit 300 new apprentices over the next 18 months by providing targeted information on work-based training to specific ethnic groups.

At the launch event today (21 March), Phil Carey, employer engagement officer for Rathbone, will call for apprenticeships to be "put on a par with a university education".

He said: "They give young people that vital taste of the workplace and can lead to careers as diverse as medicine and teaching."

Amina Kador, an 18-year-old from Oldham who is on a childcare apprenticeship, said that parents need to know about the options available for their children. She said: "I have similar responsibilities to university students on placements and my mum is dead proud because she can tell everyone I’m working at a school."