Apprenticeships – what do they offer your business

Well it is has been a hectic couple of months which is the main reason for the lack of blogging, so what have we been doing? The website has undergone a number of changes, acting on feedback from users and development that we had planned, we have temporarily removed the members section and have now made all downloads accessible from the homepage. The member's area has been removed temporarily due to maintenance and improvements, as this could take some time we felt it the best approach to take. Should you need to access your member's area then just let us know and we will make the necessary arrangements.

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Anyway apprenticeships, now is the ideal time for you to look at your business and identify whether or not you feel you could benefit from taking advantage of the apprenticeship service that has received a large amount of press in the last couple of months and endorsed by Sir Alan Sugar.

So how does it benefit you? Persons aged 16 – 24 can access full funding for their course and while they are training receive a wage payable by the employer of £95* per week as a minimum. It is easy to be deterred by the possibly large amount of time you might have to commit but think of the long term benefits. Firstly all training delivered is completely funded and colleges and training providers are becoming more and more flexible on how they deliver the qualification as the market becomes increasingly competitive, it is no longer the case of the local college as your only option and other routes should be explored. Secondly developing young people specifically for your business and providing them with a positive working environment can only add value to your business and its future development. The training wage should also not be forgotten, from a business point of view £95 per week for 40 hours work** surely has be tempting especially if your business is not ready to fully commit to a full salary which could be upwards of £11,000.

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* £95 is the amount for 16/17 years old, national minimum wage applies to the 19 and over

** 40 hours includes training