Shock Report Only Government Intervention Can Save Construction Apprenticeships

A new report by construction union UCATT has revealed that employers have totally failed to recruit the required number of apprentices in the construction industry. The report, Apprenticeships – A Firm Foundation, recommends the only way the apprenticeships system can properly function is through direct Government intervention.

The report will be launched today at a meeting of MPs at the House of Commons.

The UK needs over 88,000 new recruits in the construction industry every year. Last year Construction Skills the largest provider of apprenticeships found places for just 8,500 young people, despite 45,000 applying for places. The problem is heightened as the long-term failure to recruit adequate numbers of apprentices means that the existing workforce is elderly and many will retire in the next 5-10 years.

The reports author Steve Davies, believes that the solution is that, the Government, which is the UK’s largest construction client, must establish a system of contract compliance, forcing all contractors on Government construction projects to employ a set number of apprentices. If a company did not recruit apprentices, they would not receive work. Once the Government adopted these contract compliance clauses the policy can be rolled out throughout the public sector including devolved administrations and local authorities.

Alan Ritchie, general secretary of UCATT, said: “The Government has established ambitious targets to promote apprenticeships. What we now need is joined up thinking between departments in order to ensure that apprentices are recruited on all Government projects.”

The report is also highly critical of the short-term mindset of construction employers. In recent years this has led them to push for Program Led Apprenticeships, instead of traditional craft based schemes.

A craft based scheme is usually three years in duration, with an apprentice spending four day’s on site and one day in a classroom, an apprentice can gain an NVQ level 3, on completion. In a program led scheme, an apprentice does not initially have an employer and spends either one or two years solely in a classroom, followed by 9-12 months on site, only a NVQ level 2 can be attained.

The report says: “The problem with this initiative is that it involves a great deal of effort, a considerable amount of money, and the engagement of thousands of young people and all for what everyone agrees is an inferior option to that of an employed apprenticeship. As PLA trainees complete their college programme and find it difficult or impossible to be placed with an employer to gain the on-site experience and training necessary to gain the NVQ and other elements of the apprenticeship framework, the likelihood is that disillusion and cynicism will set in. These youngsters are likely to be lost to construction forever or, at the very least, set back and demoralised in their attempt to gain a construction related skill set. The very existence of the scheme is testimony to the continued failure of the industry to plan adequately for its own future.”

Mr Ritchie, added: “The very idea of program led apprentices, corrupts the whole notion of apprenticeships. They are vocational work based schemes where young workers learn by working beside more experienced colleagues.”

The report is also highly critical of the existing governance of apprenticeship schemes, citing that they are dominated by employers, who consistently fail to take the long-term decisions needed to boost apprenticeship rates.

To download a copy of the report click here.

For Further information contact Barckley Sumner on 0780 2329235