Labour is today reiterating its call for the Government to use a wage subsidy to create new apprenticeships in the North West as analysis shows the Government’s cash incentive has created less than a fifth of the promised opportunities.
In July the Government announced a cash incentive of either £2,000 or £1,500 for employers to take on a new apprentice. The ‘Plan for Jobs’ budgeted for 100,000 incentive payments, but new data shows just 18,670 apprentices had been taken on under the scheme by 8 January 2021.
Launching the Plan Chancellor Rishi Sunak claimed to be creating more apprenticeships, but figures show that the number of new starts between August and October 2020 in the North West had fallen by 6300 compared to the same period in 2018.
This follows a pre-pandemic downward trend which has seen the number of apprenticeships in the North West fall by 33,870 since 2015. That is the biggest drop in number of apprenticeships in the country.
On a virtual visit to an apprenticeships provider in Derbyfor Apprenticeships Week, Shadow Education Secretary Kate Green and Shadow Further Education and Skills Minister Toby Perkins, will call on the Government to use unspent funds from the apprenticeships levy – which amounted to over £330 million in 2019/20 – to fund 85,000 new apprenticeships 16-24 year olds this year, creating opportunities for young people to rebuild from the pandemic.
Kate Green MP, Shadow Secretary of State for Education, said:
“The Government is trying to get away with quick fixes, which are selling young people short and failing to create the training and employment opportunities they need.
“The Chancellor’s failure to secure our economy means the pandemic is wreaking havoc with the jobs market and now more than ever people need access to training and the chance to learn new skills.
“Labour has repeatedly called for a plan to rebuild businesses, investing in local communities to create the jobs people need after this pandemic.”
