New aid scheme for apprentices
CONSTRUCTIONSKILLS, the UK’s Sector Skills Council for construction, has unveiled a package of new measures designed to keep apprentices in place through the economic downturn. The moves include the expanded Apprenticeship Matching Service (AMS), which aims to find new work placements for apprentices who cannot continue training with their original employer.
It offers a broad range of support services to help businesses in Scotland retain their apprentices through the downturn, including mentoring for apprentices, advice for employers about other business support, and help with paperwork.
To ease the financial and administrative implications of training an apprentice and maximise opportunities for completion, ConstructionSkills has also introduced a number of sensible flexibilities in apprenticeship training models and is working with employers to explore available funding options to help support a displaced apprentice.
Throughout Scotland, the AMS has now dealt with more than 724 displaced trainees, and while ConstructionSkills’ designated team has already helped 268 of them to find new jobs, the rising numbers have prompted calls for over 250 additional businesses to offer employment opportunities for the 456 apprentices who remain unemployed.
Apprentices in carpentry and joinery and bricklaying are the most affected in terms of displaced apprentices with bench joinery being the least affected trade.
Hugh McCafferty, apprenticeship manager for ConstructionSkills, said: “The severity of the economic downturn means that the construction industry faces many challenges this year, and continuing the development of the next generation of workers is at the forefront of these. Increasingly more apprentices are becoming ‘at risk’ of being laid off, and to stem this tide we need more employers, who have the capacity to offer training opportunities to these young people.
“If this doesn’t happen, then the UK’s construction sector risks seeing the continuation of skills shortages that have plagued the industry since the last recession, caused by laying off experienced workers and reducing the number of new recruits.”
ConstructionSkills is also working closely with public sector bodies so that they invoke the policy – introduced by the Government in its 2008’s Pre Budget Review Commerce procurement guidelines – which stipulates that firms who use apprentices can be prioritised for publicly funded projects.
For further information on the ConstructionSkills Apprenticeship Programme please visit www.cskills.org or call 0844 875 0086.
