The coronavirus pandemic has led to many companies not actively seeking to bolster their ranks through apprenticeship schemes, according to the latest report released by British training provider, In-Comm Training.
National Apprenticeship Week
According to figures from its latest "barometer report," In-Comm suggests that 64% of companies surveyed failed to invest in new apprenticeships in the last 12 months.
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The study, which was released to coincide with Apprenticeships Week 2021, also found that half the firms surveyed reported cuts to budgets and 53% dropping any plans to take on young workers as they adapt to tackle the crisis.
The study looked at 109 employers and highlighted a few positives. Nearly nine-tenths of companies surveyed kept their existing apprentices despite the crisis, while the government's furlough scheme allowed 72% of companies to continue to offer training to staff.
The analysts suggest this still shows something of an appetite for learning on the job and also hints a degree of normalcy may be returned to once the crisis has faded.
Bekki Phillips, COO of In-Comm Training, said: “Something that has been spoken about a lot lately is the fact that a generation of school pupils could be left high and dry due to interruption with exams and the lack of opportunities out there.
“We can’t just write them off, that’s not fair and will be hugely detrimental to industry for decades to come, compounding the existing gap we have been trying to bridge.
“The appetite to invest in the future workforce is still there, but companies are under so much financial pressure from the pandemic that they have to make some tough decisions and it appears that this is already having an impact on the number of apprentices being recruited."
She added: “The Kickstart scheme has been slow to take off and shouldn’t be seen as an alternative to Apprenticeships, whilst the recent white paper on Further Education highlights some good points, but they’re three to four years away.
“Employers require support now and in a way that takes some of the financial burden away, maybe through a simplified grant scheme or maybe even shared Apprenticeships where a number of companies could invest in the one individual.
“In more positive news, it appears that firms have been loyal to existing apprentices, with only 14% of respondents saying they’ve had to make cuts. We’ll monitor this carefully, as this could change when furlough comes to an end.”
For the first time, the study also engaged with nearly 200 secondary school students to gauge their future career prospects, with the data suggesting the increasing popularity of apprenticeships was still evident, with nearly four-fifths stating they would pursue vocational training as a pathway to a job.
58% of respondents said learning on the job was the primary draw to apprenticeships, while 19% pointed to the benefits of on-the-job training and 9% thought it could be useful when learning to get a degree. Half of those surveyed also suggested an apprenticeship were equal to a degree.
Gareth Jones, Managing Director of In-Comm Training, said: “These results show the great strides our sector has made in promoting the benefits of apprenticeships, so they’re no longer seen as the fallback option.
“This is excellent news on one hand, but with companies now starting to hold back on recruitment, we could quickly find ourselves with lots of candidates and very few jobs.
“We need to try to capture this appetite for vocational learning and find solutions to the short-term issues we are all facing. One solution could be looking at how the Apprenticeship Levy pot is spent as a lot of the big employers will still have been paying into it despite Covid-19…could this be redirected to support SMEs in their desire to take on apprentices or boost other upskilling opportunities?"
He concluded: “Missing out on a generation of talent is simply not an option, especially as these skills will be needed to drive the bounce back.”
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Covid-19 was commonly stipulated as the primary reason for the decline in apprenticeships throughout the study.
According to respondents, the most common (63%) reason to pursue an apprenticeship was to develop future talent within their companies as well as to fill skill gaps.
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