Background

The Association of Colleges (AoC) represents and promotes the interests of 308 further education (FE) and sixth form colleges established under the Further and Higher Education Act 1992.

Key Facts

  • 744,000 16 to 18-year-olds choose to study in colleges (compared with 433,000 in schools).
  • An additional 75,000 16 to 18-year-olds undertake an apprenticeship through a college.
  • Almost every FE college offers apprenticeships.
  • 306,000 people in colleges are on apprenticeships.
  • The average college trains 1,200 apprentices.
  • Colleges train nearly half of all construction, engineering and manufacturing apprentices.

The Government has an ambitious target of reaching 3 million apprenticeships by 2020. There are fears that this is driving quantity over quality and the Government’s existing approachto financial support means that many young people from disadvantaged backgrounds face barriers to accessing an apprenticeship, with the lack of financial assistance being a key reason for students dropping out.Students should be able to choose the right college where they will get the education and training they need and this decision should never be driven by cost.

Minimum Wage

The current national minimum hourly wage rates (as of October 2016) are £7.20 for those aged 25 and over, while the apprenticeship rate is only £3.40. This discrepancyleads to an inherent bias in the system, with an apprentice who is aged 22 in their first year of an apprenticeship only entitled to the apprenticeship rate of £3.40, while in any other field they would be entitled to a minimum rate of £6.95 as a 21-24 year-old. This is a big difference in the rate and contributes to the wider perception problems facing apprenticeships and lowers its value in the minds of prospective students.

According to the Apprenticeship Evaluation Learner Survey (AELS October 2016), the majority of Level 2 and Level 3 apprentices reported earning above the apprenticeship minimum wage, however 5% of students stated they earned less than £4,500 per annum.[1]

In addition, females continue to struggle financially on apprenticeships. A report by the Young Women’s Trust[2] shows that women receive an average of £4.82 an hour, compared to the male average of £5.85. This leaves women potentially £2000 worse off every year. According to the AELS survey, the proportion of apprentices reporting an increase in pay also continued to be dominated by men with 21% of men reporting an increase, compared to 17% for women.

Access to Welfare

Under existing Department for Work and Pensions (DWP) guidelines, apprenticeships are not classed as ‘approved education or training’. As a result, many individuals are put off entering an apprenticeship because of the loss of welfare to their parents caused by the classification of ‘being in employment’. Research from the National Union of Students (NUS)[3]shows that apprentices who live with their parents could expect to lose out on as much as £1,066 per year in child benefit, while other families could lose more than £3,200 in universal credit.

This leads to many prospective students from disadvantaged backgrounds being put off taking an apprenticeship because of these financial barriers. Examples from institutionssuch as New College Durham highlight instances where apprentices have been forced to leave a course because their family household has had its housing benefits withdrawn by the Government simply because a student was classed as full-time employed and not in approved education or training5, which DWP classifies as A levels, NVQs up to level 3 and traineeships. Courses are not approved if they are paid by an employer. The £3.40 an hour would have been unable to cover the loss of income and sustain his family financially, and as such hewas forced to withdraw from the programme.

The system must be changed so that both are treated equally and there is genuine parity of esteem between students and apprentices.

Access to Transport

A lack of cost effective and available student transport presents a barrier to education and can prevent students from a range of backgrounds from accessing further education and training. Colleges have the most engagement with helping young people not in employment, education or training (NEET). The raising of the participation age to 18 (RPA) means that all young people are required to stay in education or training and therefore need accessible transport in order to do so. There is a fear that this already varied transport provision is getting worse, potentially leading to further increases in NEETs and a decline in social mobility.

The barrier that transport poses for apprentices is particularly important. If the Government are serious in their commitment to creating 3 million apprentices by 2020, they must provide adequate financial support to assist in an apprentice’s travel to their employer and educational institution.

  • Research by the Association of Colleges and NUS of 2,107 students surveyed on travel costs [4]found that 49% of respondents could not always afford to travel to attend their college or place of training.
  • The average travel time for those surveyed was two hours and 48 minutes per day at an average distance of 11 miles. Many young people surveyed (40%) rely on financial support from parents or guardians for travel costs.
  • Additional research by the National Society of Apprentices shows that apprentices spend an average of £24 a week on travel6which is a significant cost associated with getting to work as the national minimum wage for apprentices is £3.40 an hour (set to increase to £3.50 in April 2017).
  • Almost half of the apprentices surveyed (47%) said that the cost of public transport had influenced their decision on where to do their apprenticeship.
  • A further 20% said that poor public transport infrastructure has had an impact on their choice of apprenticeship.

1

[1]Apprenticeship Learner Survey (October 2016); Pay during apprenticeships Level 2 and 3 pg. 53

[2] Making Apprenticeships Work for Young Women

[3] NUS Second-Class Citizens

4Source: Figure 4.2 Apprenticeship Evaluation Survey October 2016

5 AoC and NUS Survey of 2,107 students

6National Society of Apprentices Travel Research