We are often approached by businesses who want to know more about Apprenticeships. Many have had some dealings with them in the past or have a particular perception of them. We try and give people the right information so that they can make an informed decision about their involvement. In this short blog I aim to address some key points including outlining details of the £1500 grant currently available to employers for each Apprentice they take on.

Two uses for Apprenticeships for your business:

Apprenticeships can be used to motivate and drive quality amongst your existing staff as well as inject fresh blood into your organisation with very low risk. Full support and training is provided by us on your premises so as to limit the impact of travel, day release or evening classes on your staff and your business.

Qualifications take between six months and a year to complete (depending on the chosen level, discipline and the learners/employers pace of learning) and are worth 5 x GCSE's grades A - C (at level 2) or 2 x A levels (at level 3).

Key Apprenticeship facts:

Employer responsive (Employed people):

·     Open to anyone aged 16 - 65 - it's a popular miss conception that they are only aimed at very young people

·     Qualifications can be designed specifically to suit your needs, goals, directions

·     Delivery of qualifications is flexible, and delivered 100% on your premises - so you don't lose your workforce every week or so. Instead...

·     Candidates need to contribute about an hour per week plus spend about two hours per month with their personal tutor - did we mention private tuition is standard???

·     We deliver additional key workshops and seminars FREE of charge to increase the value of the training to your business.

·     Proven to improve staff morale, improve output, improve service delivery, and improve client relations and revenue.

·     Proven to lower staff absence/sickness, lower staff turnover, and lower incidents of conflict.

Learner Responsive (Aimed at finding people aged 16 - 24 work)

·     Approximately 958,000 young people aged 16 - 24 are not in education, employment or training in England today. http://www.guardian.co.uk/society/2012/feb/23/almost-1m-young-people-neets?INTCMP=ILCNETTXT3487

·     Growing living costs and big University fees are turning a lot of talented young people off the normal academic routes and towards the workplce. However employment opportunities are not available to plug fulfill demand.

·     Apprenticeships let employers take a young person on full time for just £2.60 per hour - no added taxes, no hidden costs. Compared to the college route (where a student earns nothing) this lets a lot of young people (and their parents who haven't been given adequate time to plan for University fees) off the hook financially. The training allowance of £2.60 per hour also means that a young person can concentrate and give your business 100% attention and not have to work nights or weekends to earn money.

·     Apprentices can add great value to business - bringing energy, fresh thinking and a willingness to their role.

·     Employers only need sign a temporary contract (for the duration of the training) to make huge impact on the learners chances of gaining full employment - if they don't snap them up themselves.

It is worth emphasising that the recruitment and selection process for Learner responsive Apprentices is entirely FREE.

·     Employers can create a profile and job advert (with our help)

·     We advertise the post

·     We vet the learners

·     We pass you only the most suitable CV's

·     We arrange the interviews to suit you

·     We sign the learner up to their programme - designed specifically to your needs

·     We deliver all training to suit YOUR diary - on your premises 100%

·     We complete the qualifications, issue certificates and relocate learners at the end as needed

Well, this is our blog guide to apprenticeships and I hope that it has been useful in describing the uses for Apprenticeships for your business. Finally I would like to mention that there is currently a financial incentive to Employers to cover a large portion of the £2.60 per hour wage bill incurred - a sum of some £1500 per apprentice taken on by you - maximum 3 per employer.

We hope that you will consider apprenticeships for your organisation. If you still have lots of questions you can contact Paul directly on 077654 08 523 to discuss further or arrange a meeting.

Many thanks for reading - we will try and update as often as we can and hope that you will keep reading.

We finally took the plunge this autumn and recruited a 17 year old apprentice. It wasn't that we had a specific vacancy that needed filling - because if we had, it would have needed someone to hit the ground running. No, instead we'd looked at our workforce and realised that, as they were all in their 30s and 40s, it was a good time to introduce new blood and transfer the guys' knowledge to the next generation.

He's a good lad - turns up on time every day, gets on with his work quietly, and when I set him a puzzle he comes back the next day with the answer. This week I asked him the difference between gelcoat and flocoat, and he found out, told me and it led to a broader discussion about why the specific nature of each material is important. (If anyone wants the answer, let me know!)

It has been a good decision for us so far. There are not huge numbers of young people queueing up to enter manufacturing businesses after leaving school, so getting a willing and keen one was a bonus. He has joined a business that does traditional and low-tech stuff but that is constantly developing, looking at new materials, markets, technologies - and that is what keeps us excited and interested in this sector - we hope he will share and appreciate our enthusiasm!