Member Article

Osborne’s £200 million apprenticeships focus welcomed in North East

A near £200 million funding boost for apprenticeships has been welcomed by North East businesses.

In his Budget, George Osborne announced an extension of the Apprenticeships Grant for Employers (AGE) to 2015-16.

£170 million of the pot will be used to meet business demand for the scheme which gives employers grants of £1,500 each, for up to ten apprentices between 16-24 years old.

The measure should create a further 100,000 apprenticeships across the UK, and builds on 2,540 apprenticeship grant payments up to July 2013.

Speaking to Bdaily at Tees Valley Unlimited’s Budget Live event, Dean of Teesside University Business School, Alistair Thomson, welcomed the Chancellor’s promise of funding for degree level apprenticeships.

He said: “This could present a different way of working, and one that is certainly interesting to the University.

“It will benefit both younger people who want to train on the job, and experienced workers who are looking to retrain or upskill.

“Investment in this area is really important for the North East as our SMEs need skilled, educated workers who come equipped with experience.”

Bill MacLeod, PwC’s senior partner in Newcastle said: “It’s particularly helpful to SMEs as it will subsidise wage costs whilst someone is training. Their role in apprenticeships is important, because it’s creating sustainable skills and nationwide economic development.

“Funding for degree level apprenticeships is good news too. We need more Higher Level apprenticeships so that people have the choice of whether to go to university or to go straight into work and gain their qualifications on the job.

“We need apprenticeship to be seen as a genuine option, by parents, schools and young people. The best way to do this is for employers to show how much they value apprentices in their workforce and to take more on.

“The more degree level apprenticeship programmes we have, the more people will realise that you can get fully qualified in a professional career without going to University if for whatever reason you don’t want to take that route.

“Overall increasing the number of apprenticeships offered by employers creates high quality jobs and skills for young people.”

Mike Odysseas, managing director of North East telecommunications firm Odyssey Systems, said: “Expanding the apprenticeship grants to smaller businesses, like my own, is vital both to industry and to young people.

“Our business is always on the lookout for new and talented apprentice engineers and this will help companies to invest in people to bring further skills and resilience to the UK’s workforce.

“Even more importantly, it will incentivise companies to train thousands of young people and help them get their first foot on the career ladder, securing bright futures for themselves as part of the UK’s modern and dynamic economy.”

This was posted in Bdaily's Members' News section by Tom Keighley .

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