Fighting against ‘fake apprenticeships’

As we start the New Year, it seems we could be entering an interesting period for apprenticeships.

Before we’d even taken down our decorations, the sector was hit by a new report that suggested many apprenticeships created over the last few years were low quality and weren’t designed to help local people get started on a new career ladder; apprenticeships’ main purpose.

The report claimed that half of the apprenticeships created in the last two years aren’t genuine. It goes on to say that many large companies have been relabelling existing low-paid posts as apprenticeships, simply to reclaim money from the Apprenticeship Levy.

It’s estimated that ￡1.2 billion of the Levy has been spent on these so called ‘fake apprenticeships’.

The increase in these fake apprenticeships has coincided with the Government’s Levy and its target to create three million apprenticeships in the three years between 2017 and 2020. In the scramble to achieve the Government’s target, it’s fair to say that many big organisations have sacrificed quality for quantity.

This has led to some employees ending up carrying out basic on-the-job training and the company branding it as an apprenticeship in order to claim the Apprenticeship Levy.

Recent changes to the regulations mean that it is more difficult to create these ‘fake apprenticeships’ and that skills gaps must be evidenced in order to successfully apply for Levy funding, which we welcome at PHX Training.

Despite the turbulence, for SMEs there has still never been a better time to create a genuine apprenticeship. Small businesses can use the Apprentice Levy to claim a 95 per cent reduction in training up a new apprentice, meaning they can benefit from ￡10,000 worth of staff training for just ￡500.

The scheme also offers a great return on investment, with 90 per cent of apprentices staying on in their place of work after completing their training and 78 per cent of employers saying that apprentices improved productivity in their business.

At PHX Training, we focus on delivering training for quality apprenticeships, supporting businesses to bolster their workforce, but also to create opportunities for local people around Lancashire and Cumbria to get started with a new career in the world of work.

Apprenticeship funding can also be spent on employees at all ages, which means companies can bring in new starters whilst filling a genuine skills gap in the staff at all levels.

For more information about how the Levy and apprenticeship funding works visit the apprenticeship website or contact us on 01228 210317 today.