Comments on apprenticeship levy decline

Recent findings from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) have found that the number of apprenticeship starts for people aged under 19 has fallen by 41 per cent since the scheme’s introduction. For people aged between 19 and 24, the number of starts has fallen by over a third (36 percent).

In a new report, which surveys more than 2000 organisations, CIPD found that the current levy system is undermining the goal to support young people enter the workforce via apprenticeships, and calls for an Apprenticeship Guarantee, and for the levy to be amended to a flexible skills levy, with funding to go equally towards apprenticeships and accredited training.

These findings have raised questions of whether the government’s levy system is broken.

Professor Amanda Goodall, Professor of Leadership at Bayes Business School (formerly Cass), said:

“Every government report examining failures or inefficiencies in the NHS, the police, or the creative industries repeatedly highlights bad leadership and management as a central cause.

“My research with Dr Victoria Serra-Sastra and Dr Agnes Bäker has found that high staff turnover is predominantly caused by bad managers, and those who report they have weak or failing line managers are more likely to leave their job and often their profession. We found this to be particularly common among midwives. The British people are well aware of the effect that staff shortages, especially among nurses and doctors, are having on the NHS and patient care.

“For seven years, we at Bayes Business School have run a two-year part-time leadership programme for medical doctors. It is mainly funded by the apprenticeship levy which is the only way the NHS can afford to train its staff. The impact of this programme, the Executive Masters in Medical Leadership (EMML), has been enormous. We know this because we have collected actual data through the apprenticeship levy tripartite interviews with over 70 doctors and their line managers.

“Because of the impact of the EMML on NHS doctors, we at City are now working with senior executives in the creative industries to develop a similar MSc, and with former Metropolitan police office Nick Harvey (the detective who arrested Wayne Couzens for the murder of Sarah Everard) we are hoping to create a leadership programme for the police.

“If the apprenticeship levy does not support public services like the police and NHS, or key industries that are fundamental to our economy, like gaming, film, TV, publishing, where many employees are self-employed, none of these leadership training programmes will be possible.

“When bad leadership is causing so much damage across many of our services and industries why would you deny them access to the apprenticeship levy? It makes no sense.”

Ruth Velenski, Head of Corporate Development and Master’s Apprenticeships at Bayes, added:

“From a medical standpoint, this apprenticeship is proving to be the vital and essential ingredient to enabling doctors to become fully fledged leaders. Our programme has found that participants build their confidence, clarify their vision, acquire fundamental skills and knowledge with which to  facilitate change and generate positive outcomes for all stakeholders, from the broad range of healthcare professionals to the support and administrative staff to ultimately the patient.

"What better reason to continue to provide this level of leadership apprenticeship for the doctors who are committed to serving the population than that?”