AELP responds to 26.5% drop in apprenticeship starts

Commenting on today’s official statistics for apprenticeships, AELP CEO Mark Dawe said:

‘For a government committed to improving social mobility, ministers have to be really concerned about the continued drop in starts for both young people and at lower levels. A 38% drop in starts at intermediate level does not bode well for the social mobility agenda. As Brexit edges closer, this is also entirely the wrong time to be closing the door on employers trying to recruit apprentices in key sectors such as social care and hospitality.

‘The government has got to look again at the incentives for recruiting young people and make sure that there are apprenticeship opportunities available across the country. This means that employers shouldn’t be charged for taking on 16 to 24 year old apprentices and they should be given more flexibility in how they train them.

‘The big cuts in the funding of apprenticeships in smaller employers make no sense at all when ministers are chasing a 3 million quality starts target and all registered providers should be given access to funding for all employers now, but most importantly it’s the productivity and social mobility agendas that require a reversing of these cuts.’