The Budget delivered on 28 October builds on the Government’s commitment to expanding apprenticeship opportunities for young people. The additional £100 million over two years to extend apprenticeship brokerage services across all 14 Mayoral Strategic Authorities in England is a positive step, alongside incentives designed to encourage employers, particularly SMEs, to recruit young apprentices. These measures demonstrate a welcome focus on helping more young people access employment and develop the skills businesses need.
At Performance Through People, we see first-hand the positive impact apprenticeships have on individuals, businesses and communities. We hope these measures will translate into more opportunities, greater employer engagement and increased participation, particularly among individuals who face barriers to entering the workforce.
However, while these announcements are welcome, they are not transformational in addressing the wider skills challenges facing employers. Businesses across many sectors continue to face skills shortages and need support not only to recruit new talent, but also to upskill, reskill and retain their existing workforce. Apprenticeships should be recognised as a vital tool for workforce development, career progression and productivity, not simply as a route into employment for young people.
At a time when inclusion is rightly high on the Government’s agenda, we must ensure that skills policy supports people at every stage of their working lives. Apprenticeships offer opportunities for career changers, adults returning to work and employees seeking to progress into new roles or higher-skilled occupations. A genuinely inclusive approach must recognise the value of these opportunities alongside the urgent need to tackle youth unemployment and economic inactivity.
The wider challenge is to develop a coherent, long-term skills strategy that responds to employers’ needs, supports independent training providers and delivers meaningful opportunities for learners of all ages. This means recognising that investment in young people entering the workforce must go hand in hand with opportunities for existing employees to develop new skills, improve productivity and progress in their careers.
The sector also awaits the full recommendations of Alan Milburn’s independent review into young people and work. There is an opportunity to build on its interim findings by addressing not only the needs of young people already disconnected from education, employment or training, but also the underlying barriers that prevent others from becoming disengaged in the first place.
Skills remain fundamental to economic growth, business productivity and social mobility. The announcements made in the Budget on 28 October represent progress, but the Government must go further. A truly ambitious skills strategy will invest in young people entering the workforce while supporting adults to retrain, employees to progress and businesses to develop the talent they need to thrive.