{"id":79183,"date":"2017-02-23T09:26:00","date_gmt":"2017-02-23T09:26:00","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?guid=192aa6c804bfee3caf825890429373a5"},"modified":"2017-02-23T09:26:00","modified_gmt":"2017-02-23T09:26:00","slug":"press-release-dfe-encourages-more-businesses-to-offer-apprenticeships","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/?p=79183","title":{"rendered":"Press release: DfE encourages more businesses to offer apprenticeships"},"content":{"rendered":"<div class=\"govspeak\">\n<p>Get In Go Far &#8211; the government\u2019s flagship campaign to promote apprenticeships &#8211; launched a new wave of activity today (23 February 2017), focused on promoting apprenticeships to employers.<\/p>\n<p>The campaign highlights the wide range of benefits that apprentices can bring to a business, with the aim of increasing the number of apprenticeships offered in England.<\/p>\n<p>Advertising on the radio and LinkedIn will tell the stories of several businesses currently employing apprentices. This activity will also be supported by telemarketing activity carried out by the Skills Funding Agency.<\/p>\n<p>New analysis in support of the campaign highlights that small and medium enterprises (<abbr title=\"small and medium-sized enterprises\">SMEs<\/abbr>) are set to recruit 202,000 new apprentices in the next 12 months, helping more young people get their foot in the door at leading companies across the country.<\/p>\n<p>Additional research also highlights the many ways in which apprentices boost the businesses they work for:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>more than 24,000 apprentice-employing <abbr title=\"small and medium-sized enterprises\">SMEs<\/abbr> in the private sector reported that hiring an apprentice has actually helped them win business<\/li>\n<li>3 in 4 <abbr title=\"small and medium-sized enterprises\">SMEs<\/abbr> that employ apprentices report increased productivity thanks to apprenticeships with product\/service improvement<\/li>\n<li>nearly all (96%) <abbr title=\"small and medium-sized enterprises\">SMEs<\/abbr> report at least one business benefit to hiring an apprentice<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>However, there is still more that needs to be done to ensure employers of all sizes gain the skills they need for their workforce. Almost three-quarters of <abbr title=\"small and medium-sized enterprises\">SMEs<\/abbr> still remain to be convinced about the merits of taking on an apprentice.<\/p>\n<p>Apprenticeships and Skills Minister Robert Halfon said:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>We know that apprenticeships give people of all ages and all backgrounds a ladder of opportunity to get the skills they need. That is why more than 90% of apprentices stay in employment after their scheme ends.<\/p>\n<p class=\"last-child\">It\u2019s fantastic to see that so many <abbr title=\"small and medium-sized enterprises\">SMEs<\/abbr> are taking advantage of the programme, ensuring they get the workforce they need but we must do more to encourage <abbr title=\"small and medium-sized enterprises\">SMEs<\/abbr> to come on board and hire more apprentices.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Oliver Mangham, Applications Director at Fairfield Control Systems, who himself started as an apprentice and who features in the new campaign, commented:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>For <abbr title=\"small and medium-sized enterprises\">SMEs<\/abbr> like ours, an apprentice provides a great way for a business to grow the talent we need.<\/p>\n<p class=\"last-child\">Companies can shape their training to provide skills tailored to their business and, on top of that, the apprentices will bring enthusiasm, fresh ideas and aid innovation.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Mike Cherry, National Chairman of the Federation of Small Businesses (<abbr title=\"Federation of Small Businesses\">FSB<\/abbr>), has backed the new government campaign. He commented:<\/p>\n<blockquote>\n<p>Small firms understand that apprenticeships make good business sense. Having apprentices can be a real asset for many smaller businesses and are vital to the future of the UK economy.<\/p>\n<p class=\"last-child\"><abbr title=\"Federation of Small Businesses\">FSB<\/abbr> members are taking on more apprentices than ever before and are a fantastic way to enable young people to gain the skills they need to succeed. We\u2019d encourage all small businesses to explore how an apprentice could fit in their organisation.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p>Berthon Boats, one of the stars of the campaign, advise customers internationally on buying and selling high-quality sailing, motor and performance yachts. They have taken on 65 apprentices in the last 6 years, helping them to bid on bigger contracts and ensure the future of their business.<\/p>\n<p>Fairfield Control Systems also feature. Their apprentices can gain a range of qualifications including a Higher National Diploma or Bachelors in Engineering (<abbr title=\"Bachelors in Engineering\">BEng<\/abbr>). The knowledge and talent their apprentices bring have helped the company bridge a skills gap and grow rapidly.<\/p>\n<p>The campaign is launched in advance of a new \u2018<abbr title=\"support, teen grant, entrepreneur offer, provisions for additional support\">STEP<\/abbr>\u2019 funding offer becoming available to <abbr title=\"small and medium-sized enterprises\">SMEs<\/abbr> from 1 May 2017.<\/p>\n<h2 id=\"notes-to-editors\">Notes to editors<\/h2>\n<p>For the purposes of this press release and calculations, an <abbr title=\"small and medium-sized enterprises\">SME<\/abbr> is defined as having 1-249 employees, excluding sole traders from the figures. This press release applies to England only.<\/p>\n<ol>\n<li>Calculations to show projections of apprenticeship numbers:<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<table>\n<thead>\n<tr>\n<th>Organisation size<\/th>\n<th>Average number of apprentices at workplace (IFF Research)<\/th>\n<th>Percentage of business likely to offer in 12 months (KANTAR)<\/th>\n<th>Number of businesses*<\/th>\n<th>Number of firms expected to hire apprentices in next 12 months**<\/th>\n<th>Number of apprentices expected<\/th>\n<\/tr>\n<\/thead>\n<tbody>\n<tr>\n<td>1 to 9<\/td>\n<td>0.7<\/td>\n<td>0.26<\/td>\n<td>932,310<\/td>\n<td>142,643<\/td>\n<td>99,850<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>10 to 49<\/td>\n<td>1.9<\/td>\n<td>0.34<\/td>\n<td>175,175<\/td>\n<td>38,889<\/td>\n<td>73,889<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>50 to 249<\/td>\n<td>3.3<\/td>\n<td>0.43<\/td>\n<td>28,735<\/td>\n<td>8,621<\/td>\n<td>28,449<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<tr>\n<td>Total (all <abbr title=\"small and medium-sized enterprises\">SMEs<\/abbr>)<\/td>\n<td>&#8211;<\/td>\n<td>&#8211;<\/td>\n<td>1,136,220<\/td>\n<td>&#8211;<\/td>\n<td>202,189<\/td>\n<\/tr>\n<\/tbody>\n<\/table>\n<p>Employer satisfaction survey of 4,000 apprentice employers conducted by IFF Research initially published July 2016. <abbr title=\"small and medium-sized enterprises\">SME<\/abbr> data revealing results of survey of 3,843 <abbr title=\"small and medium-sized enterprises\">SMEs<\/abbr> has not been published before.<\/p>\n<p>500 businesses were interviewed by telephone on the IFF business omnibus survey by KANTAR Public. The survey data is weighted to be representative of the population of UK businesses. Interviews took place between 16 and 27 January 2017.<\/p>\n<p>*<a href=\"https:\/\/www.gov.uk\/government\/uploads\/system\/uploads\/attachment_data\/file\/559220\/bpe_2016_detailed_tables.xls\">BEIS estimates of business population<\/a> are available.<\/p>\n<p>**Allowing for \u201cdefinitely\u201d (0.9) and \u201cprobably\u201d (0.5) factors in Kantar data<\/p>\n<ol start=\"2\">\n<li>Perceived benefits of hiring an apprentice by <abbr title=\"small and medium-sized enterprises\">SMEs<\/abbr> [Kantar]:\n<ul>\n<li>enthusiasm: 80%<\/li>\n<li>ability to mould staff to your business needs: 70%<\/li>\n<li>ability to future proof your workforce: 66%<\/li>\n<li>fresh ideas: 61%<\/li>\n<li>new skills: 53%<\/li>\n<li>productivity: 53%<\/li>\n<li>innovation: 40%<\/li>\n<li>the edge over your competitors: 24%<\/li>\n<li>creates a more diverse workforce: 1%<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ol start=\"3\">\n<li>Benefits <abbr title=\"small and medium-sized enterprises\">SME<\/abbr> apprentice employers report in IFFR research:<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<ul>\n<li>improved productivity: 74% of <abbr title=\"small and medium-sized enterprises\">SMEs<\/abbr> report this<\/li>\n<li>lower overall wage bill: 37% of <abbr title=\"small and medium-sized enterprises\">SMEs<\/abbr> report this<\/li>\n<li>improved staff retention: 68% of <abbr title=\"small and medium-sized enterprises\">SMEs<\/abbr> report this<\/li>\n<li>improved ability to attract good quality staff: 59% of <abbr title=\"small and medium-sized enterprises\">SMEs<\/abbr> report this<\/li>\n<li>brought new ideas to the organisation: 64% of <abbr title=\"small and medium-sized enterprises\">SMEs<\/abbr> report this<\/li>\n<li>improved staff morale: 71% of <abbr title=\"small and medium-sized enterprises\">SMEs<\/abbr> report this<\/li>\n<li>improved our product or service quality 72% of <abbr title=\"small and medium-sized enterprises\">SMEs<\/abbr> report this<\/li>\n<li>improved our image in the sector: 64% of <abbr title=\"small and medium-sized enterprises\">SMEs<\/abbr> report this<\/li>\n<li>96% of <abbr title=\"small and medium-sized enterprises\">SMEs<\/abbr> report at least one of the benefits listed above<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ol start=\"4\">\n<li>Government \u2018<abbr title=\"support, teen grant, entrepreneur offer, provisions for additional support\">STEP<\/abbr>\u2019 funding offer for <abbr title=\"small and medium-sized enterprises\">SMEs<\/abbr>:<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<p>The government\u2019s simplified \u2018<abbr title=\"support, teen grant, entrepreneur offer, provisions for additional support\">STEP<\/abbr>\u2019 funding arrangements for <abbr title=\"small and medium-sized enterprises\">SMEs<\/abbr> who don\u2019t pay the apprenticeship levy (firms with a wage bill of under \u00a33 million a year) becomes available from 1 May 2017.<\/p>\n<p>The \u2018<abbr title=\"support, teen grant, entrepreneur offer, provisions for additional support\">STEP<\/abbr>\u2019 arrangements provide 4 easy-to-understand ways non-levy-paying <abbr title=\"small and medium-sized enterprises\">SMEs<\/abbr> can access government funding for their apprentices:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\n<b>s<\/b>upport: the government pays 90% of an <abbr title=\"small and medium-sized enterprises\">SME<\/abbr>\u2019s training and assessment costs for the lifetime of the apprenticeship, any age, any level (up to funding band maximum)<\/li>\n<li>\n<b>t<\/b>een grant: an extra \u00a31,000 grant will be paid to any <abbr title=\"small and medium-sized enterprises\">SME<\/abbr> who takes on a 16- to 18-year-old, or a 19- to 24-year-old that has previously been in care<\/li>\n<li>\n<b>e<\/b>ntrepreneur offer: businesses with under 50 staff will also see 100% of training and assessment costs paid for if they recruit an apprentice aged 16-18<\/li>\n<li>\n<b>p<\/b>rovision for additional support for <abbr title=\"small and medium-sized enterprises\">SMEs<\/abbr> who take on those with additional learning needs further support is also available<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<ol start=\"5\">\n<li>Find out more about how apprenticeships can benefit businesses on the <a rel=\"external\" href=\"http:\/\/www.getingofar.gov.uk\/employers\">Get In Go Far website<\/a>.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<div class=\"contact \" id=\"contact_997\">\n<div class=\"content\">\n<h3>DfE enquiries<\/h3>\n<div class=\"vcard contact-inner\">\n<div class=\"email-url-number\">\n<p class=\"tel\">\n              <span class=\"type\">Central newsdesk<\/span><br \/>\n              020 7783 8300\n            <\/p>\n<p class=\"tel\">\n              <span class=\"type\">General enquiries<\/span><br \/>\n              0370 000 2288\n            <\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Small businesses from across England feature in the Get In Go Far campaign, highlighting the benefits of apprenticeships.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":8,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13],"tags":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79183"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/8"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=79183"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79183\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":79212,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/79183\/revisions\/79212"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=79183"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=79183"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mostafa.openonline.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=79183"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}