The newly formed Exeter & North Devon Colleges Group is one of the largest college providers of apprenticeships in England. Nearly half our apprentices are young apprentices, and the fact this is unusual is a problem we need to address.
Many Western countries have a problem with a rise in NEETs (those not in education, employment or training). In France, youth unemployment stands at 18.1 per cent. The UK has nearly one million NEET young people. I therefore welcome the Milburn review, but want to share two reflections based on my lived experience.
I had the privilege (and responsibility) of being one of two individuals with an FE background on the curriculum and assessment review. The most hard-hitting lesson was a genuine awareness of the unintended consequences of an action, policy or decision. This almost seemed to me like a game of whack-a-mole… solve a problem over here, create a new one over there.
In two facets of the apprenticeship market we are struggling with this.
Many of us would say the introduction of the minimum wage has been a great policy, with a moral purpose, strong social intent and the aim of creating a fairer society. However, if it had existed when I was a 16-year-old looking for an apprenticeship, opportunities might not have been there.
When I was 16, nearly 15 per cent of young people in England started an apprenticeship. Today, it’s 40 per cent in Austria and nearly 50 per cent in Germany: the last time I saw the figure for England, it was just 4 per cent.
In effect, at age 16 you have three choices: full-time study, get a job (in a challenging jobs market) or become NEET. My feeling is that we have inadvertently priced 16-year-olds out of the jobs market.
As a construction apprentice, 16-year-old me earned £28.50 a week (£104 today)… and to be honest, I wasn’t worth much more!
When I was 17, my wages doubled to £60 a week (£210 today). Then when I was 18, working as a third-year advanced apprentice, I was paid a proper wage, by which point I was actually really useful to my employer.
Today, we treat 16, 17 and 18-year-olds as one group. And because an employer in 2026 must pay 16-year-old John £296 a week, opportunities have dried up.
Then comes whack-a-mole problem number two. Today, all apprentices are funded at the same rate. Yes, 16-year-old me, with all my teenage quirks, safeguarding needs and limited life experience, gets the same apprenticeship funding as a highly experienced 55-year-old apprentice.
There is no real benefit, and if we are honest, a lot of unfunded additional costs, to a training provider or college that takes on a young apprentice.
We’ve ended up with a system that encourages employers to employ older apprentices. The employer-led design of apprenticeship standards has also created a product (often including a duration) more suited to older apprentices.
I welcome some of the current changes: the introduction of foundation apprenticeships, the reintroduction of more level 2 apprenticeships and the renewed ambition of Skills England, the Department for Work and Pensions and the Department for Education.
And fortunately, we have a minister in Baroness Jacqui Smith with the experience, passion and drive to make positive changes.
I would like to see three things:
- Funding to be increased for young people studying an apprenticeship. Young people are more expensive to train and educate.
- The training wage differentiated for 16-year-old apprentices (year 12) and 17-year-old apprentices (year 13). I would also hope to see the rules around benefits amended to ensure families do not lose out if a young person chooses an apprenticeship over a full-time study programme.
- The creation of a significant incentive package for employers to take on young apprentices, including support for SMEs.
Many may disagree with my ideas, but we at least need to start the conversation to capture the future.
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