Apprenticeship funding reforms must help SMEs, say leading industry figures

The government’s reforms of apprenticeships must ensure easier access to funding for small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in construction, leading industry figures have said.

Sarah Draper, people and culture director, at Rider Levett Bucknall, was asked today at Building’s Good Employer Guide Live what the government can do to help the construction skills shortage, highlighted apprenticeship funding.

Draper, speaking on a panel about attracting and retaining talent, said: “I actually had a meeting with a group from the Department of Business and Trade this morning and actually just talking about how we join up the approach to the skills challenge, the challenge of the apprenticeship levy, and how we can spend that money, how we help SMEs and actually how we join up the education system.”

“We want to set people up so when they are going through education, they come out and are ready to join the industry.”

Draper’s comments were echoed by Karen Brookes, chief people officer at Sir Robert McAlpine, who said: “Reform of the apprenticeship levy [so that] not just ourselves, a large contractor, but actually SMEs can access more of the funds that perhaps we cannot use.

“It’s actually very difficult to pass [the funds] down to subcontractors.”

The government is planning to phase in a new growth and skills levy later this year which it has said will make it easier to use funds for a wider range of training programmes, including shorter courses, while also reducing “red tape” to make it access funds easier. The programme is due to be phased in from this year, but the exact timetable and detail is unclear.

Elly Hoult, chief operating officer and deputy chief executive of £1bn-turnover housing association Peabody, said apprenticeship funding is often too complex.

She said: “In my experience there’s quite a lot of funding in different places…it’s just not very joined up. So [we need] some sort of simplification of that process.”

Hoult added that the government has made a “good step forward” in axing the requirement for maths and English skills for apprentices. She said: “That will open up opportunities for lots of young people to think about an apprenticeship as a way forward.”

Louise Ellis, chief people officer at Gleeds, said the national curriculum in schools should have a focus on the built environment.

“We just don’t do enough to talk about who we are, what we do, and the impact that we have on society,” she said.