ALMR warns over pub apprenticeship funding gap
Under the BII’s Level 3 apprenticeship programme, Government-backed funding levels are set at £4,300 for those aged 25 and above, £5,400 for 19-24 year-olds and £5,800 for 16-18 year olds.
Responding to a Government consultation into apprenticeships, the ALMR said: “Perhaps the most pressing funding issue limiting the take up of apprenticeships in our sector is that the tariff is set at a lower rate for the BII ‘pub’ apprenticeship than for the general catering and hospitality apprenticeship.
“The difference between the two tariffs is as much as 50% and it is no surprise, therefore, that take up and returns are greatest in the general hospitality programme.”
The ALMR said it wanted to see full-funded apprenticeships for 19-24 year-olds rather than for 16-17 year-olds, and also for over-25s. In 2011, the Government announced it would offer employers with 50 employees or fewer up to £1,500 for taking on an apprentice aged 16 to 24.
The ALMR said: “There are many over-25 year-olds working in our industry that would benefit as much or even more from access to apprenticeship schemes as 16-17 year-olds. Employers in the licensed hospitality sector should be incentivised to take these older employees on.”
The trade body called for greater effort to accredit existing in-house training programmes and urged the Government to avoid a “one sector fits all” approach when developing tighter guidance for those involved in apprenticeship frameworks.
The ALMR also said there would be more take-up of apprenticeships in pubs if there’s more focus on skills rather than qualifications.
And the group said some of its larger members who have developed their own schemes have expressed reservations about rolling them out more broadly due to uncertainties around Government funding and support.
