Boroughs to boost apprentice opportunities for young and diverse Londoners

London Councils is bringing together London leaders and chief executives as part of a collective action to boost recruitment of young and diverse apprentices.

Increasing the number of apprenticeships to provide opportunities is urgently needed to respond to the challenge of unemployment facing young Londoners and addressing London’s skills gap which is vital to inclusive growth in the boroughs and the capital’s supply chains.

Nationally the number of under-19s starting apprenticeships has fallen by 53,900 between 2015-16 and 2021-22 (41 per cent), while the number of 19-24-year olds starting apprenticeships has decreased by 47,530 (31 per cent) in the same time frame. Boroughs are determined to play their part in helping to reverse this decline.

At a London Councils Apprenticeship Summit in central London, council leaders and chief executives will showcase best practice and demonstrate the actions underway in creating more apprenticeships across the boroughs, including the benefits they will bring to communities locally through wide-ranging recruitment opportunities.

One of the many challenges boroughs face is the inflexibility of the apprenticeship levy. The levy was introduced in 2017 and requires larger employers to pay a proportion of their annual pay bill into a central pot to fund apprenticeship training.

Lack of flexibility in how the levy can be spent is creating barriers to boroughs and other employers who wish to make full use of these much-needed funds. Currently, the levy can only be spent on training costs, not on an apprentice’s wages or the administrative costs involved in hiring and supporting an apprentice.

Between April 2021 and March 2022, a total of £44.7m was available to London boroughs through the apprenticeship levy. Yet London boroughs spent just under half of apprenticeship levy available to them.

In the London Business 1000 Survey in 2022, it was revealed that 86 per cent of firms do not employ apprentices at all. Of those who did not, a quarter of businesses cited administration time (25 per cent) or the management/workload involved (23 per cent) as reasons for not employing apprentices.

London Councils is calling on government to listen to boroughs and businesses to enable more flexibility on how levy funding is spent. This will mean thousands of pounds of funding can be invested where apprentices need help and support most, rather than being returned to Government.

Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz, London Councils’ executive member for skills and employment, said: “Apprenticeships open up amazing opportunities to Londoners from diverse communities and walks of life. Boroughs are a driving force in championing apprenticeships as a fantastic way for young people to gain new skills as well as boosting industries with recruitment challenges including London boroughs themselves.”

By Mark Adair – Correspondent, Bdaily