Employers and trainers reject apprenticeship funding reforms
Joe Lepper
Friday, September 13, 2013
Government plans to overhaul funding for apprenticeships have come under fire from employers and training providers.
A consultation is currently taking place into government plans to reform apprenticeship funding, with the aim of making it easier for employers to take part and boost the number of places.
But two-thirds of employers who responded to an Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP) survey said none of the three options in the consultation would improve the current funding system.
The survey is based on 177 responses – half from training providers and half from employers. Three quarters of all those who responded rejected all three of the government’s funding options.
The first of the options put forward in the consultation, which closes on 1 October, is a direct payment model where employers claim for government funding through an online payment system. The second also involves payment of government funding to businesses, but instead through their PAYE return.
The third option involves training providers making claims for government funding, with employers making a financial contribution to providers instead.
The AELP says that many of those surveyed believed all options would result in fewer employers wanting to take on apprentices.
Employers were keen to keep the current funding system in place, as it gives them more control over apprentices’ training. They were also concerned that they would be required to make contributions to training under the proposals.
An AELP briefing document says: “Employers often make significant contributions to the training of the apprentice ‘in kind’ – for example, their time, resources and salary. It was therefore felt that requiring cash contributions and all of the associated administration would deter employers from engaging with apprenticeships.”
This was particularly the case among small- and medium-sized enterprises, the AELP adds.
The government ran a separate, broader consultation into the future of apprenticeship schemes between March and May. This was in response to Dragon’s Den judge Doug Richard’s review of apprenticeships last year, which called for employers to take more control of apprentice schemes. The government is now considering the responses.
A report published in July by the think-tank IPPR found there were only 288,300 apprenticeship places available for the one million Neet (not in education employment and training) population.
