Meanwhile, the government’s ambition to see 3m apprentices trained by 2020 continues to result in opportunities arising to support the area of apprenticeship learning in a number of ways.
One of them is through the evolution of The Apprenticeship Grant for Employers of 16 to 24 year-olds, which aims to attract businesses that would not otherwise be in a position to do so, enabling them to recruit young people into employment through the apprenticeship programme.
In the 2015 Autumn Statement, George Osborne announced a new apprenticeship levy on employers with the aim of covering the cost of apprentices’ training.
The apprenticeship levy, which will come into effect in April 2017, is an absolute reinforcement of the goal to establish recruitment and training through an apprenticeship approach. The firms paying the levy will, in return, access vouchers that can be used to fund training for their own apprentices.
With the increase of fees for university study, individuals may consider that the annual costs of such education and lifestyle is a weighty commitment when compared to the earnings attained by apprentices and the career progress that a structured learning programme can deliver. The two options provide a vastly different day-to-day experience and, if earnings and costs are removed from the decision, there is possibly a clear choice as to which direction will suit which individual.
Apprenticeships are not, however, without their professional qualification accreditation. There are many professional apprenticeship routes available in which the academic capability is challenged and recognised through professionally certified exams.
| Key Points |
In financial services there is a definite need to see how we can better attract candidates into our industry One of the ways for businesses to do attract more talent is promoting more apprenticeships, Individuals may consider that the annual costs of such education and lifestyle is a weighty commitment when compared to the earnings attained by apprentices |
Some networks have worked in collaboration with a number of financial services organisations in the development of a series of financial services apprenticeship standards under the Trailblazers initiative, including administration and paraplanning roles.
The standards are developed in consultation with employers in order to deliver a training programme that effectively addresses the skills development required, along with a thorough assessment of those skills, enabling a meaningful accreditation and valuable experience by the end of the programme of learning.
While the government say they will do all they can, the financial services industry needs to do more to look at providing clearer entry routes into roles across the industry. In my role I regularly see young people with great expectations and aspirations coming out of college and university, but also struggle to get into financial services roles due to their lack of experience.
