The Apprenticeship Local Authority Toolkit

Council and organisational buy-in

It is important to have Council and organisational buy-in when considering implementing the Apprenticeship framework. Please find below the method and process used by Oxfordshire County Council to ensure they were well backed:

Oxfordshire County Council

It was essential to get buy in to the Apprenticeship programme within the local authority from a range of people. From the chief executive and leader of the council, Trade Unions, social and health care providers and individual staff who provide care in organisations the council contracts with.

This ensured the scheme had not only senior organisational support but also that there were individuals willing to support apprentices within their workplaces.

Who to approach:

  • Senior people within the organisation

In Oxfordshire County Council social care apprentices were the first apprentices to be appointed and the scheme was initially piloted for a year with 13 recruits in 2006.A 1:1 meeting was arranged with the project manager and the Chief Executive, to get the initial go ahead, where the benefits of Apprenticeships to the organisation and also to the local community were put forward.

The Director of Social Care was invited to come and meet and greet the apprentices during their induction and an awards evening was arranged when the first group completed to which the Council’s Chief Executive, leader of the council, social care and children and family’s directors were invited.Deputy directors have also agreed to job swaps with apprentices.

  • Unions

They were consulted about Apprenticeships at an early stage to ensure that their support was gained. This was important to ensure that they supported the concept of young people in the workplace and the salary they were paid at a time when lack of job security was being faced by some staff.

  • Individual staff who provide social care

Without the buy in from individual staff the programme would not have got off the ground. Individuals were targeted who were known to be role models of good practice in their organisation and who could also see the potential in young people and had the motivation to overcome barriers.

Some were care staff and others had more senior roles including the HR director of one organisation.They became an initial reference group and committed to either supporting an apprentice themselves or identifying someone in their organisation who had the skills to do so.

Challenges:

One of the main challenges has been financial pressures on local authorities and ensuring that Apprenticeships were still seen as a priority for the organisation at a time when jobs were being cut.Keeping Apprenticeships on senior manager’s agendas by involving them and gaining positive publicity in the media has been important.

Benefits:

The senior managers/councillors saw first-hand the benefits of the programme to both the organisation and the young people themselves. The Council has now recruited nine cohorts of social care apprentices and have rolled out Apprenticeships across many other sectors. This also led to establishing an Apprenticeship pledge with a number of other large employers in Oxfordshire.

The Council has also established an Oxfordshire Apprenticeships programme supporting and encouraging employers and young people to engage in Apprenticeships across the county. Gaining senior management/members support has been critical in times of financial pressures to ensure that the programme continues. Individuals who were on the initial reference group were able to act as ambassadors for Apprenticeships within their organisation.

Some gained valuable experience as a result of their involvement in the scheme which enabled them to gain promotion.