Apprenticeship starts fall 31% | Consensus HR | Herts, Beds
The number of apprentices starting at SMEs has fallen by 49% between 2017 and 2021, from 241,000 to 123,800. At large companies, there has been a 14% decline in new apprenticeships. The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) report shows that across firms of all sizes, overall starts are down by 31% since the introduction of the apprenticeship levy in 2017. Investment in training per employee in the UK has declined by 19% since 2011, from £2,191 to £1,778. The CIPD found that six in ten British employers provided some sort of training in the past 12 months, down from two in three in 2017. Lizzie Crowley, the CIPD’s senior policy adviser, said: “Skills and labour shortages continue to be a real problem across the UK and all sectors of the economy, and we need to get apprenticeships and vocational education right if we’re to tackle these challenges.” Martin McTague, national chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses, has called for reforms which “must work to reverse the dramatic fall in the number of starts.”
Our HR comment: Apprenticeship starts fall 31% | Consensus HR | Herts, Beds
Matthew P Chilcott, FCIPD, ACEL, Owner of Consensus HR comments: “Wow! Some very interesting statistic here in this article from ‘The Times’ and our Chartered Institute the CIPD. At Consensus HR we are a firm believer in Apprenticeships and development of our team and when I was fortunate enough to hold the role of Head of Talent / HR for Veolia Water UK and Welcome Break UK played an active part in ensuring that structured employee development schemes were created and introduced so as to ensure the teams had the skills required for their roles for their benefit and that of the business. Within Veolia water I played an active part in the writing of the skills required for their Apprenticeship scheme working with the Water Authority and Government body which proved very interesting. Apprenticeships and employee development needs to be managed and implemented correctly ensuring that the delegates receive real, business focussed development for the specific role with active support, feedback and praise.”
YOUR OUTSOURCED HUMAN RESOURCES DEPARTMENT.
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