Young people and employers both win with apprenticeships

Hospitality apprenticeships are a fantastic opportunity for operators and jobseekers alike. Syma Spanjers explains how to make a scheme workable

The problem While recent statistics show that overall youth unemployment was down in the last quarter, there are still almost one million young people out of work in the UK.

The Government believes apprenticeships are an effective way of providing high-quality routes into employment, but are the schemes workable for employers?

The law The requirement for an Apprenticeship Agreement between an employer and an apprentice, under the ASCL Act 2009 sections 32-36, came into force on 6 April.

For young people, apprenticeships provide an opportunity to earn money while working towards nationally recognised qualifications and learning practical skills through hands-on experience.

Expert advice
Pros
â- Pay and qualifications Apprentices are able to earn while they learn, with the knowledge that they are also working towards a nationally recognised qualification.
â- Skills shortages Hiring an apprentice can make good business sense for employers. It can be a cost-effective way of training staff in the particular skills required by the business (particularly as the Government may contribute towards the costs of training).
â- Recruitment costs A well-trained apprentice can help reduce skill shortages by ensuring a growing business has the right skills and qualifications for the future.
â- Staff turnover Apprentices tend to be motivated, flexible and loyal to their employer.
â- Apprenticeship Agreement The introduction of Apprenticeship Agreements legislation means that employers can now performance-manage underperforming apprentices as they would any employee in their business.
Cons â- Apprenticeship Agreement or contract of apprenticeship? The legislation does not specify the wording that must be used in order to form a valid Apprenticeship Agreement. There is, therefore, a risk that employers will inadvertently create common-law contracts of apprenticeship.
An employer might be required to pay damages to the apprentice for the remainder of the training period if such a contract is terminated early.
â- Misconduct Employers have less scope for dismissing an apprentice, so “misconduct” in the normal employment context will not be sufficient. Employers must be able to show that the apprentice’s conduct is so bad that they are effectively unteachable.

Check list â- Consider whether you have any skills shortages to which apprentices might be a solution.
â- Use the National Apprenticeship Service’s (NAS) Return on Investment Calculator to estimate the average costs of employing and training an apprentice (www.apprenticeships.org.uk/employers/roi-tool.aspx).
â- Seek advice to draft an Apprenticeship Agreement to ensure that a contract of apprenticeship is not inadvertently created.

Beware! â- Be prepared to release the apprentice for one day per week to attend college.
â- An apprentice will be entitled to statutory sick pay and maternity or paternity pay in the normal way. Apprentices also have the usual rights under the Working Time Regulations 1998 and health and safety legislation.
â- Employers must pay at least national minimum wage for apprentices (currently £2.65 per hour). However, apprentices who are 19 or over and have completed the first year of their apprenticeship must be paid at least the minimum wage for their age.
â- NAS will cover up to 100% of the training costs of apprentices aged 16-18 and up to 50% of the training costs for those aged 19-24. If an apprentice is 25 or over, only selected places will receive a training contribution.

However, when recruiting an apprentice, be careful not to fall foul of age discrimination provisions. If employers seek to limit the age of applicants on the basis of funding eligibility, this will indirectly discriminate against older applicants.
â- While it is possible to dismiss an apprentice at the end of the apprenticeship for a fair reason, those engaged after 6 April 2012 for a period of two years or more will be able to bring claims for unfair dismissal.
â- Only consider dismissing an apprentice for misconduct in extreme circumstances.

Contact Syma Spanjers is an associate at Charles Russell
syma.spanjers@charlesrussell.co.uk

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