Labour outlines apprenticeships creation plan

The Labour Party has pledged new opportunities for young people to earn and learn with a plan to create 100,000 new apprenticeships across the country.

Apprenticeship starts have declined by over 40 per cent with 188,000 opportunities disappearing in the decade since 2010.

The Labour Party’s plan would see a wage subsidy boosting capacity for employers to take on young apprentices aged 16 – 24 creating new training opportunities to fuel our economic recovery from coronavirus.

With apprentice numbers falling, large portions of the apprenticeships levy – paid by big employers to government – are going unspent. In 2020/21, £1.3 billion of levy funds is set to be returned to the Treasury. Labour’s plan would use £377 million of this to help employers cover 100,000 new apprentices’ wages for their first year in the job.

Labour’s Shadow Education Secretary, Kate Green, said: “The government has overseen a decade of decline in apprentice numbers and has no plan to reverse this trend. Apprenticeships should be a gold standard training opportunity, but they have been neglected by successive Conservative governments which have entrenched inequalities and denied young people the opportunities they need.

“Labour is committed to helping every young person make a strong start to their working lives with quality training and employment opportunities helping them to develop the skills our economy needs.”