12th July 2016
The government claims to have doubled the number of apprenticeships since 2010 and recent figures reveal there are now 440,000 apprenticeships a year. Of those starting in the 2013/14 academic year, 53 per cent were female and 47 per cent were male. The majority of people chose apprenticeships in the service sectors and almost three quarters of new starts were in three sectors: business, healthcare and retail. There are currently 170 different apprenticeships available in 13 sectors.
Sarah Everton, employment law specialist at Myers & Co Solicitors in Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, explains the rules if you already employ apprentices or if you are thinking about recruiting one.
An apprenticeship is a work-based training programme that leads to a nationally recognised qualification. It can be for a fixed term or until a certain level of qualification is reached. An apprentice is someone aged 16 or over who is not in full-time education and who combines working with studying for a work-based qualification, from GCSEs or the equivalent up to degree level. Apprentices can be new or existing employees and can be school leavers or someone older who is starting a new career.
An apprentice must work with experienced staff, learn job-specific skills and study for a work-based qualification during their working week. Training is usually for one day a week and is provided by a college or training organisation. Apprenticeships normally last for one to four years.
Grants and funding are available to employers who take on apprentices in England and Wales; the amount available will depend on the business sector and the age of the apprentice, with higher levels of funding available for younger apprentices. The training element is usually fully or partly funded by the government.
The following steps provide a guideline to recruiting an apprentice:
Three legal forms of apprenticeship are now in existence:
On 26 May 2015, approved English apprenticeships were introduced and only apply in England. From that date, apprenticeship agreements have only been available in Wales. (Before then, apprenticeship agreements were available in England and Wales.) Where the apprentice is employed in England in a sector where there is no approved apprenticeship standard, an apprenticeship agreement will apply. The aim is that, from 2017/18, all new apprenticeships will be based on the new standards.
Employers are more likely to want to enter into apprenticeship agreements or approved English apprenticeships, as they are less onerous, and to include clauses dealing with matters such as a probationary period, early termination of the agreement and repayment of training costs.
Apprentices are employees and there are a number of matters that you need to be aware of:
Since the primary focus of a contract of apprenticeship is training, you cannot dismiss an apprentice working on one of these contracts on the same grounds as an ordinary employee. There is only a limited right of dismissal before the end of the contract, which includes misconduct that is so serious the apprentice is unteachable, the closure of the business and a fundamental change in the business. If you terminate the agreement early, the apprentice can potentially receive damages for loss of earnings and training for the rest of the agreement, plus loss of future career prospects if there is an impact on their future earnings.
An apprentice on an apprenticeship agreement or an approved English apprenticeship can be dismissed in the same way as an ordinary employee, which means that you will need to have a good reason and follow a fair procedure in order to avoid a claim for unfair dismissal.
A failure to take on an apprentice as a permanent employee on completion of their training will be treated as a dismissal, leading to a potential claim for unfair dismissal if the apprentice has been engaged for two years or more. However, an apprenticeship can potentially end for a fair reason under the ‘some other substantial reason’ heading.
If you have any queries about employing apprentices or you would like us to provide you with a suitable agreement, please contact Myers & Co Solicitors on 01782 577000 or contact Sarah Everton directly on 01782 525012 or email sarah.everton@myerssolicitors.co.uk.
The contents of this article are for the purposes of general awareness only. They do not purport to constitute legal or professional advice. The law may have changed since this article was published. Readers should not act on the basis of the information included and should take appropriate professional advice upon their own particular circumstances.
