Supporting our small businesses to recruit apprentices and realise net zero

Reed in Partnership Managing Director, Donna Murrell, sets out how transforming the UK’s talent pipeline and breaking down barriers for school leavers could support us in our journey towards net zero.

The UK is at a critical juncture in building its talent pipeline. Skills are the key to delivering sustainable growth and transforming the UK’s infrastructure and housing. But the list of challenges is long. While businesses struggle to find the skilled people they need, we have almost a million young people not in education, employment or training.

This mismatch is particularly evident in the skilled trades sectors, such as the plumbing and electrical trades, where apprenticeships are a critical part of the skills solution. There’s strong interest in recruiting apprentices from the small businesses that Reed in Partnership works with - and enthusiasm from young people, who want to enter these sustainable careers - but the system to support them isn’t working.

That is why Reed in Partnership welcomed the opportunity to work with the Social Market Foundation, to explore how we can engage more school-leavers into skilled trades apprenticeships. We wanted to take a deeper look at the policy solutions to ask: what is stopping small skilled trades firms from taking on school-leaver apprentices, and what needs to happen to address this? To do this, we worked in partnership with TrustMark - the government-endorsed quality scheme that covers work consumers carry out in or around their home, and that has a wide, diverse network of registered businesses.

The report explores the key enablers and barriers for SMEs in taking on more young apprentices in skilled trade roles, including green jobs, presenting new data on the attitudes of trades firms, and insights from industry interviews. It recommends:

• Establishing an intermediary system that strengthens the relationships between SME trades firms and training providers
• Increasing the apprenticeship incentive payment for under-19s to £3,000
• Launching a national campaign to promote awareness and positive perceptions of young apprentices.

We believe that the solutions are both practical and deliverable - and complement the Government’s vision for Getting Britain Working outlined in its recent White Paper. They are simple and targeted, designed to make it simpler and more attractive for SMEs to recruit for and sustain apprenticeships, while levering better communication pathways with training providers into the system.

We look forward to working with Skills England and the Department for Education in shaping the right support for our small businesses to play their part in the net zero transition, and benefit from the talent of young people from their own communities.

Read the full report here: https://www.smf.co.uk/publications/apprenticeships-and-skilled-trades/