Responding to Department for Education figures showing
that the number of apprenticeship starts dropped by 27% to
114,000 compared to this time last year, Seamus Nevin, Head of
Policy Research at the Institute of Directors, said:
"Unsurprisingly, today's apprenticeship figures show a 27% drop
compared to this time last year and we already know from previous
statistics that there was a 61% drop following the initial
introduction of the Government’s levy last April. Clearly the new
system has failed to take off.
“The levy can be difficult to navigate and many employers still
struggle to comprehend how the system is meant to work. 13% of
levy paying IoD members cannot recoup all the money they pay in
because of glitches in the levy’s pricing, while a further 11% of
mostly smaller payers are having to write off their payments as a
tax because apprenticeships are too expensive for their available
funds.
“Apprenticeships are a fantastic type of training for someone new
to a job – and it is great to see there was an increase in the
number of higher level apprenticeships this year – but employers
have made it clear that this type of training is not always the
most appropriate way of helping to up-skill someone already in
work.
“If we want employers to invest more in training, and if we want
to create a ‘parity of esteem’ between so-called academic and
vocational education, then we need to ensure that the levy system
works for employers. Today’s figures are a warning for the
Government, as it becomes increasingly unlikely that they will
meet their 3 million new starters target. The levy is the right
idea, but the system is ripe for reform.”
