Youth Skills Commission wants more employers to offer apprenticeships
Joe Lepper
Monday, July 14, 2014
Employers and schools need to work better together to improve young people's access to work experience and apprenticeship schemes, latest findings from the joint industry and parliamentary run Youth Skills Commission suggest.
Set up by the Industry and Parliament Trust and UK Commission for Employment and Skills (UKCES) earlier this year, the Youth Skills Commission has published a series of case studies showing the benefits of greater collaboration.
It follows publication of the Commission's report last week which showed that just 29 per cent of employers offer work experience opportunities and only 15 per cent apprenticeships. In addition, it found only 27 per cent of employers said they recruited young people directly from education.
Moira McKerracher, UKCES deputy director, says work experience and apprenticeship placements are crucial to helping young people get a foot on the career ladder.
She said: “A big message coming out of the Youth Skills Commission has been the importance of experience in helping young people secure a strong footing in the labour market.”
Collaboration between schools and employers also helps improve promotion of work experience opportunities, which are currently often only known through word of mouth, she added.
McKerracher urged all employers to learn from the example of firms such as Rolls Royce, which has a strong track record of recruiting apprentices. Around a fifth of its most senior managers joined the firm as an apprentice.
Marks & Spencer was also praised for its dedicated Make Your Mark programme to recruit 16 to 25 year olds who are not in employment, education or training. This four-week work placement, which last year saw 1,453 young people take part, is delivered with The Prince’s Trust. The retail firm and Prince’s Trust also offer six-month post programme support to help young people find a job or training course place.
In addition to the case studies the Youth Commission has produced sector specific briefing papers giving an overview of their youth employment track record. Its paper on the finance sector, for example, shows just 13 per cent of firms had employed someone aged 16-18, well below the UK average of 24 per cent.
