With the labour market deeply affected by the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic, the UK government has launched its Plan for Jobs to generate employment opportunities across the country.
The Plan for Jobs at large enables those eligible to develop the skills and capabilities they need to progress in their chosen careers while acquiring valuable employment experience.
Beyond that, the programmes come with financial incentives for firms taking part, meaning the benefits are twofold: providing a source of fresh talent, and being financially rewarded for it.
One of the hallmarks of the Plan for Jobs is the government’s traineeship scheme. Targeted at individuals aged 16-24, or aged 25 [if they have an education, health and care plan], it helps prepare people for employment within a business.
Traineeships are targeted toward providing 70 hours of worthwhile work experience and are entirely flexible. They can span from six weeks to one year in length, and should end with the offer of a trainee interview for a more formal apprenticeship or job, if there is an opportunity within the company.
Where an opportunity it not there, an exit discussion should take place, accompanied with detailed written feedback on the performance of the trainee to help them improve.
Whether the traineeship ends in a job offer or not, the aim is to ensure that firms benefit, and that the trainee has developed a range of skills that will allow them to move to the next step in their careers.
With regards to the financial remunerations, participating companies can apply for an incentive payment of £1,000 for each trainee work placement that lasts for the minimum 70 hours. Employers can claim for up to ten incentive payments.
The government has pledged £126 million in funding to support 43,000 extra traineeships over the 2021/22 academic year and has encouraged firms to take advantage of the scheme.
Combined with the government’s Kickstart programme which also falls under the wider Plan for Jobs, traineeships according to the government could play a key role in fuelling the economic recovery and building back better, by providing work opportunities for young people.
The move also goes some way toward addressing a longstanding issue across industry: the well-documented skills shortfall. Industry for some time has urged government to commit to quality apprenticeship schemes to address the issue, particularly with Brexit shutting off the ability for employers to easily turn to the EU talent pool to fill vacancies.
With need exacerbated by the health crisis, the government has acted by drawing up its Plan for Jobs, which will not only help bounce back from the pandemic if carried out correctly but ease the burden on firms too.
Shackleton Wintle & Lane [SW&L Ltd] is one of the largest and most respected plumbing and heating businesses in the southwest of England, employing 100 people directly and supporting 50 subcontractors.
Even before the Covid-19 pandemic struck, SW&L Ltd’s managing director, Simon Marklew, declared that he and his fellow directors and industry operators needed to see improved apprenticeship programmes introduced to ensure talent could continue to flow into the industry.
Marklew told The Parliamentary Review in 2019: “We look forward to an end to the market uncertainty and loss of confidence that has resulted from Brexit. Key parts of our supply chain involve products imported from the EU, and our business needs a greater degree of certainty around movement of goods and exchange rates.
“With the government having dropped its national target of three million apprenticeships, we would also like to see a renewed commitment to the retention of quality apprenticeship schemes. This should be alongside incentives targeted within key industries to avoid future skills shortages.”
While issues do remain in the supply chain at present thanks to the double pronged impact of Brexit and Covid-19, the government has intervened to bring in the apprenticeship programmes that SW&L Ltd were so eager to see. The onus is now on industry to make as much use of the scheme as possible.
