Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

Personnel Today

Register
Log in
Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+

ApprenticeshipsEconomics, government & businessLatest NewsJob creation and lossesLearning & development

CBI apprenticeship proposals may damage young jobless prospects

by Kat Baker 26 Aug 2009
by Kat Baker 26 Aug 2009

Calls for the government to create incentives for employers to take on more apprentices than they need will not necessarily create more permanent jobs for the young unemployed, experts have warned.

As part of its five-point plan to tackle youth unemployment, the CBI has urged the government to use £25m – from the £500m made available to help the long-term unemployed – to encourage employers to take on more apprentices than they require.

But HR professionals and think tanks warned that if employers hire more apprentices than they need there will not be jobs for all participants once training ends.

Becci Newton, senior research fellow at the Institute for Employment Studies, said: “It’s definitely good to get the training but people will want to have a job at the end of it and that’s the bit that would probably disappear – the guarantee of continuity – if the employer has over-recruited. It weakens the chances of getting a job.”

Paul Speer, head of BT’s apprenticeship academy, warned that a saturation point could be reached with there being more trained apprentices than jobs available.

“There’s a real risk that there won’t be employment for them at the end,” he said. “[Incentives] need to be in balance with the job opportunities available for them, otherwise we could end up with a huge workforce of people that can do very clever work but if there is no demand people will still be in unemployment queues.”

The government is currently running an £11m pilot apprenticeship expansion scheme to encourage employers to take on extra apprentices, but the CBI wants this to be extended.

Fiona Murray, senior policy advisor at the CBI, told Personnel Today: “[This scheme] would be a really useful way for large employers to offer support to the rest of their sector by opening up their training facilities to train more apprentices so other companies can benefit later on with access to more experienced workers.”

Meanwhile Des Thurlby, HR director of Jaguar Land Rover, which is currently involved in the pilot scheme, said it had to become much less complex and bureaucratic if the government wanted to increase uptake.

The car manufacturer will save about £100,000 a year after taking on an extra 15 apprentices – taking the apprenticeship scheme to 44 people.

He said: “We found the bureaucracy we had to go through extremely frustrating and time-consuming.

“It should be expanded but the government needs to streamline the scheme and make it easier for employers to access the money. If we were a small company we would have given up as it was like pulling teeth.”

A spokeswoman for the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills said the government would make a decision on funding for the apprenticeship expansion scheme after the pilot had been completed, in the next financial year.

Avatar
Kat Baker

previous post
Pizza Hut and G4S defend HR procedures after illegal worker fines
next post
Bank holiday airport strikes called off while union seeks legal action

You may also like

Employment and equalities ministers quit Boris Johnson’s cabinet

6 Jul 2022

Supporting Muslims during Eid: Five employer questions

6 Jul 2022

Maya Forstater wins belief discrimination case over gender-critical...

6 Jul 2022

Learning disability employment gap shows local spikes

6 Jul 2022

Inflation: A return to the 1970s or a...

6 Jul 2022

NI threshold increase ‘not likely to benefit workers’

6 Jul 2022

Kristie Higgs succeeds in bid to remove LGBT...

5 Jul 2022

‘Low flight risk’ designer wins £100k age discrimination...

5 Jul 2022

Rail signaller discriminated against by staff who watched...

5 Jul 2022

The ultimate guide to payroll for small businesses

5 Jul 2022
  • The ultimate guide to payroll for small businesses PROMOTED | You’ve started a business that has expanded to the point of requiring more staff to meet demand. Congratulations!...Read more
  • NSPCC revamps its learning strategy with child wellbeing at its heart PROMOTED | The NSPCC’s mission is to prevent abuse and neglect...Read more
  • Diversity versus inclusion: Why the difference matters PROMOTED | It’s possible for an environment to be diverse, but not inclusive...Read more
  • Five steps for organisations across the globe to become more skills-driven PROMOTED | The shift in the world of work has been felt across the globe...Read more
  • The future of workforce development PROMOTED | Northumbria University and partners share insight...Read more

Personnel Today Jobs
 

Search Jobs

PERSONNEL TODAY

About us
Contact us
Browse all HR topics
Email newsletters
Content feeds
Cookies policy
Privacy policy
Terms and conditions

JOBS

Personnel Today Jobs
Post a job
Why advertise with us?

EVENTS & PRODUCTS

The Personnel Today Awards
The RAD Awards
Employee Benefits
Forum for Expatriate Management
OHW+
Whatmedia

ADVERTISING & PR

Advertising opportunities
Features list 2022

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2022 DVV Media International Ltd

Personnel Today
  • Home
    • All PT content
    • Advertise
  • Email sign-up
  • Topics
    • HR Practice
    • Employee relations
    • Equality, diversity and inclusion
    • Learning & training
    • Pay & benefits
    • Wellbeing
    • Recruitment & retention
    • HR strategy
    • HR Tech
    • The HR profession
    • Global
    • All HR topics
  • Legal
    • Case law
    • Commentary
    • Flexible working
    • Legal timetable
    • Maternity & paternity
    • Shared parental leave
    • Redundancy
    • TUPE
    • Disciplinary and grievances
    • Employer’s guides
  • AWARDS
    • Personnel Today Awards
    • The RAD Awards
  • Jobs
    • Find a job
    • Jobs by email
    • Careers advice
    • Post a job
  • XpertHR
    • Learn more
    • Products
    • Pricing
    • Free trial
    • Subscribe
    • XpertHR USA
  • Webinars
  • OHW+