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Apprenticeships questions

Hello,Well my business is finally taking shape looking to hopefully take an apprentice on or labourer. As the jobs I'm doing are to much to manage alone.If you wind down at winter what does the apprentice do? Can you just pay them for full weeks but only work a couple of days?What qualifications do you have to have to take an apprentice on how old must I be?Is there a specfic pay scheme pay rises year on year?ThanksMitch

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  • PRO
    Hi Mitchel, I think you need to decide which one it is you need, in my mind there is a huge difference between a labourer to get work done quicker and ease the strain on yourself and an apprentice who you wish to train, guide, send to college etc, to take on an apprentice as a one man band is a lot of work and commitment by both parties, and you will probably find initially it slows you down, Gary RK would probably be the man to talk to or Phil , grab them in the chat room I'm sure they will be more than happy to give you some advice, good luck mate ...:-)
  • Its a good question Mitchel, and one that we've been looking at

    We think we're going to start with an admin assistant apprentice rather than an outdoors one; easier to fulfill the 30 hours a week criteria, plus our local college has business students and they do a lot of the legwork in finding suitable candidates 

    The training element is important and time consuming on the employers part - it seems they dont all go to college (yep news to me, too)

    the government does give money to SMEs who take on an apprentice, but its not a lot

    and its important to make sure an apprentice has a contract of employment as it would be with any employee

    Check out the National Apprenticeship Service, Skills Funding Agency for some more info

    and keep us posted!

    • PRO

      The whole Apprenticeship scheme is changing to give employers more control as we found out.

      Anyone in the FSB will have access to a great 3 page article explaining how these changes (proposed in 2012) are now being implemented.

      Current Apprencticeships will continue until they complete. Also the funding matrix has massively changed.

  • PRO

    Key Apprenticeship changes in 2015 (FSB Summary)

    1 Apprenticeships must have a direct link to a real job, with simple, approved standards listed on no more that two sides of A4

    2 Apprenticeships will be graded - pass, merit, distinction - and independently assessed when the individual reaches the end of the scheme

    Apprenticeships must reach level two in English & Maths before completing scheme

    4 Apprenticeships are funded through a digital voucher scheme, given directly to employers by the Skills Funding Agency

    5 The £1500 AGE grant is replaced with a 3 tier grant

    6 The national apprentice min wage is increased by 20%

    7 Current apprenticeships can continue under the old system

  • PRO

    http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/business-42092171

    Big fall in number of new apprenticeships
    The number of new apprenticeships falls by 59% after the introduction of levy on big firms.
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