[ad_1]
HALF of apprenticeship courses in England are “fake” and don’t help young people with poor qualifications to get jobs, according to a think tank.
The new report has found that hundreds of thousands of apprenticeships have been mis-labelled by employers and universities in a bid to take advantage of extra funding.
1
The EDSK said that the “false” schemes are a result of a levy that was introduced for larger employers with a payroll of more than £3million in August 2017.
Employers and organisations of all sizes can then take advantage of the fund, which is managed by HMRC, to help pay for new apprenticeship schemes.
But the report found that many apprenticeships are actually either low-skilled jobs disguised as “training”, such as shop or bar work, or schemes for experienced staff getting into middle management, rather than benefiting new recruits.
It reckons that £1.2billion of the levy has been used to fund schemes that already existed under a different name.
The levels of apprenticeship
THERE are different types of apprenticeship as we outline below:
- Intermediate – Level 2 – equivalent to GCSE
- Advanced – Level 3 – equivalent to A level
- Higher – Levels 4, 5, 6, and 7 – equivalent to foundation degree and above
- Degree – Levels 6 and 7 – equivalent to a bachelor’s or master’s degree.
Of that cash, £550million has been used to rebage professional development courses, while universities have snatched £450million to fund “apprenticeships” up to Master’s level.
And £235million has been spent on low-skilled jobs under the disguise of training.
Tom Richmond, director of the EDSK, said that as a result, the apprenticeships themselves have become a “meaningless concept” and don’t “relate to helping young people get started in a skilled job or occupation.”
The think tank recommends that apprenticeships need to be more carefully defined to stop firms using the money to fund existing training programmes.
It feels that it will also help the scheme to be “taken seriously by young people, parents and teachers.”
Mr Richmond added: “Not only will this save hundreds of millions each year, it will provide more opportunities for young people to train as genuine apprentices, especially those living in the most deprived areas.”
A Department for Education spokesperson said that all approved apprenticeship schemes meet a “high-quality” set of requirements.
They added: “Our reforms mean apprenticeships are better quality, lasting for a minimum of 12 months with at least 20 per cent off the job training.
“In 2017 we introduced legislation so training cannot be called an apprenticeship unless it meets those basic criteria and the minimum quality requirements set by us.”
Some apprenticeship schemes pay up to £26,000 a year and you can apply for one even if you don’t get the GCSE or A Level grades that you were hoping for.
If higher education isn’t for you, there are plenty of jobs out there that don’t require a degree and some pay up to £71,700 a year.
Although if you are considering heading off to university, you can get up to tens of thousands of pounds a year in benefits and grants to help with the cost.
[ad_2]
READ SOURCE
