- Huw Hughes
-
|
The British Retail Consortium (BRC) has warned that the government’s
approach to apprenticeships is “not working”.
The BRC said that despite retailers contributing 160 million pounds
annually to the Apprenticeship Levy, the current system is “overly rigid”
and is preventing many retailers from making full use of their
Apprenticeship Levy pot.
“The apprenticeship standards, under which all apprenticeships must
exist, are not being developed and approved quickly enough, holding back
take up by the industry,” the BRC said.
The number of apprenticeship starters decreased by 5 percent to 125,800
in Q1 2018-2019, while in retail, the number of starters fell by 15 percent
overall. A 2018 report by The Open University suggested the current skills
gap in the UK was costing businesses 6.3 billion pounds.
Helen Dickinson OBE, chief executive of the British Retail Consortium,
said in a statement: “The Government’s current approach to apprenticeships
is not working. Retailers continue to pay into an Apprenticeship Levy pot,
yet the number of starts has been falling dramatically. The government
should make good on their pledge to reform the Levy, allowing retailers to
make better use of the system and increasing the investment they make in
the UK’s three million retail workers.”
Rob Halfon, MP and chair of the Education Select Committee, said: “I
want to thank the BRC for all their work on apprenticeships and making
National Apprenticeships Week 2020 so special in Parliament. We have to
ensure that retail apprenticeships are a real ladder of opportunity for
people wanting to get skills and jobs for the future. We need to look at
possible reform of the levy and the tax system to make sure that we can
incentivise and help retailers navigate through the bureaucracy and are
encouraged to see apprentices as a vital part of their workforce.”
Photo credit: Pixabay, chafleks
