Labour is today [Tuesday] reiterating its call for the Government
to use a wage subsidy to create new apprenticeships, as analysis
shows the Government’s cash incentive has created less than a
fifth of the promised opportunities.
In July the Government announced a cash incentive of either
£2,000 or £1,500 for employers to take on a new apprentice. The
‘Plan for Jobs’ budgeted for 100,000 incentive payments, but new
data shows just 18,670 apprentices had been taken on under the
scheme by 8 January 2021.
Launching the plan Chancellor claimed to be creating more apprenticeships, but
figures show that the number of new starts between August and
October 2020 was down more than a quarter on the same period in
2019. This downward trend pre-dates the pandemic and has seen
189,000 apprentice opportunities disappear since 2016.
On a virtual visit to an apprenticeships provider in the East
Midlands for Apprenticeships Week, Shadow Education Secretary
Kate Green and Shadow Further Education and Skills Minister Toby
Perkins, will call on the Government to use unspent funds from
the apprenticeships levy - which amounted to over £330 million in
2019/20 – to fund 85,000 new apprenticeships for 16-24 year olds
this year, creating opportunities for young people to rebuild
from the pandemic.
, Shadow Education Secretary, said:
“The Government is trying to get away with quick fixes, which are
selling young people short and failing to create the training and
employment opportunities they need.
“The Chancellor’s failure to secure our economy means the
pandemic is wreaking havoc with the jobs market and now more than
ever people need access to training and the chance to learn new
skills.
“Labour has repeatedly called for a plan to rebuild businesses,
investing in local communities to create the jobs people need
after this pandemic.”
, Labour’s Shadow Further Education and Skills
Minister, said:
“Young people are being let down by the Government’s
irresponsible handling of this crisis which has led to soaring
unemployment rates and the worst recession of any major economy.
“The Government should adopt Labour’s proposal for a structured
wage subsidy instead of their failing cash incentives and create
the apprenticeship opportunities young people need to gain
productive skills and long-term employment.”
Ends
Notes to editors
·Under Labour’s plans employers would receive
a full wage subsidy for a new apprentices’ first three months, a
50% wage subsidy for six months and 25% subsidy for the final
three months. This would mean half of a new young apprentices’
wages would be paid by the Government, saving employers over
£3,500 per apprentice.
·The Plan for Jobs notes state that the
funding allocated to Boosting worksearch, skills and
apprenticeships: “Includes the indicative cost of 100,000
incentive payments for new apprenticeship hires. Final costs will
depend on the number of new apprentices hired and may be
lower.” https://www.gov.uk/government/publications/a-plan-for-jobs-documents/a-plan-for-jobs-2020
·18,670 apprenticeships had started under the
incentive scheme by 8 January 2021
Additional analysis, table 2: Table showing the number of
planned starts on the apprenticeship incentive scheme by month
and level category as at 08 January 2021https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/apprenticeships-and-traineeships#dataBlock-97d3f6b6-b663-4281-9f1e-518b34bd2f61-tables
·New starts were down 27.6% in August –
October 2020, compared to the same period in 2019
https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/apprenticeships-and-traineeships#dataBlock-97d3f6b6-b663-4281-9f1e-518b34bd2f61-tables
·The number of apprenticeships declined by
189,000 between 2016/17 and 2019/20
Annual Time Series: https://explore-education-statistics.service.gov.uk/find-statistics/apprenticeships-and-traineeships#dataBlock-97d3f6b6-b663-4281-9f1e-518b34bd2f61-tables
