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+

AutomationApprenticeshipsLatest NewsSkills shortagesTraining needs analysis

‘Premium’ should be paid for high-value apprenticeships

by Ashleigh Webber 27 Mar 2019
by Ashleigh Webber 27 Mar 2019 Higher-level construction apprenticeships are likely to offer higher average wage returns.
Higher-level construction apprenticeships are likely to offer higher average wage returns.

Employers that offer “high value” apprenticeships should receive “premiums” from the government to encourage schemes that facilitate higher average wage returns, transferable skills and opportunities for career progression.

Organisations should be incentivised to offer apprenticeships that “benefit society” by developing more productive, better paid workers and teaching skills that are valuable to the wider UK economy, according to the Social Market Foundation (SMF).

Apprenticeships

Apprenticeship levy underpayment investigations more than double

‘Use the apprenticeship levy to improve management’ – Cary Cooper

Likewise, apprenticeship schemes that have weak returns, such as those in sectors at high risk of automation, should be disincentivised.

Its Making apprenticeships work report recommends that “Apprenticeship Value Premiums” are paid to employers that offer schemes that are of “high value” to the economy.

Such premiums would be calculated based on productivity gains, measured principally by average wage returns to apprentices; levels of employment or progression into higher-level of training; and the proportion of apprentices reporting that they have gained transferable skills that help them move into other jobs or sectors.

Average wage returns vary by age, level and sector. SMF claims completing a level 3 manufacturing apprenticeship translates into 34% higher hourly earnings when compared to manufacturing employees who obtained a level 2 qualification. Similarly, level 3 apprentices in construction earn 23% more per hour than those who do not hold a level 3 qualification. However, those completing education or health and social care apprenticeships do not on average receive a pay rise compared with colleagues who completed lower-level apprenticeships.

Apprentices who achieved their level 3 qualification at age 18 or younger earn 23% more per hour than those who hold a level 2 qualification. This falls to 22% per hour if the apprentice was aged between 19 and 24 at the end of their apprenticeship. Average wage growth for older apprentices is zero.

Other recommendations put forward by the report include:

  • the development of apprenticeship excellence ratings to help employers choose the best training providers for their field
  • accessing the risk of automation in sectors where many apprenticeship schemes are being offered, such as care or retail. Schemes should be altered or discontinued if the risk of automation is high
  • the introduction of a better labelling system to help employers and candidates distinguish between different levels, such as “technical” for levels 2 and 3, “higher technical” for levels 4 and 5 and “professional” for higher levels.

“Better quality apprenticeships, by creating a more skilled workforce, could play a key role in narrowing the UK’s education and productivity gap compared with other major economies. At present workforce productivity in the UK is substantially behind that seen in Germany, the US, France and Italy – weighing on economic growth and, in turn, living standards,” the report says.

Organisations have been urged to use or share their unspent apprenticeship levy funds before the April deadline. Around £3bn in funding has not yet been drawn by levy-paying employers.

Ashleigh Webber
Ashleigh Webber

Ashleigh is editor of OHW+ and HR and wellbeing editor at Personnel Today. Ashleigh's areas of interest include employee health and wellbeing, equality and inclusion and skills development. She has hosted many webinars for Personnel Today, on topics including employee retention, financial wellbeing and menopause support. Prior to joining Personnel Today in 2018, she covered the road transport sector for Commercial Motor and Motor Transport magazines, touching on some of the employment and wellbeing issues experienced by those in road haulage.

previous post
Three in five suffer at work due to menopause
next post
How to draw up a blueprint for workforce planning

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply

Save my name, email, and website in this browser for the next time I comment.

You may also like

One in 10 young people not in education,...

25 May 2023

Apprenticeship ‘coldspots’ mean young people miss out

11 May 2023

Don’t rush into removing BTecs, committee urges

28 Apr 2023

What are returnerships and are they a good...

17 Mar 2023

Labour market figures March 2023: vacancies continue to...

14 Mar 2023

Phone repair company calls for apprenticeship

24 Feb 2023

UCAS to promote apprenticeships alongside degrees

7 Feb 2023

National Apprenticeship Week 2023: Who’s hiring?

6 Feb 2023

Employers only spending half of apprenticeship levy funds

2 Feb 2023

Employees seek retraining in the hope of higher...

2 Feb 2023

  • The HR Bundle: Your one-stop guide to building a successful global HR Department PROMOTED | Get your hands on Deel’s free HR bundle...Read more
  • The Benefits of an Employee Assistance Programme PROMOTED | EAPs support employees in a range of ways...Read more
  • Intergenerational working and how to manage up and down the generations PROMOTED | The benefits and challenges of intergenerational workplaces...Read more
  • Bereavement in the workplace: How training can help HR get it right PROMOTED | HR professionals play an essential role...Read more
  • UK workforce mental wellbeing needs PROMOTED | The mental wellbeing support employers are providing misses the mark...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 2023

  • Facebook
  • Twitter
  • Instagram
  • Linkedin


© 2011 - 2023 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+