Scrap the apprentice minimum wage, AELP demands

The apprentice minimum wage should be scrapped, the Association of Employment and Learning Providers has urged.

Instead, the association believe apprentices should simply be paid the national minimum wage.

The pay increase – which could see some apprentices more than doubling their wages – would be “appropriate” and would also benefit employers, AELP boss Mark Dawe told FE Week.

“Given that apprentices are employees and they’re working a substantial amount of the time, they should be paid the same rate as every other worker,” he said.

The “general feeling” among AELP members, at both board level and among the wider membership, was that “the apprenticeship minimum wage is now not appropriate and ought to be scrapped”.

Mr Dawe acknowledged that paying the national minimum wage in “lower wage sectors, with lower margins” would be “challenging for the employers”.

“What our providers would say is that you get better retention of staff, whether they’re apprentices or not, paying reasonable wages,” he said.

“So the benefit comes through from staff loyalty, retention and getting the right staff, which outweighs some of these concerns.”

The apprentice minimum wage, currently set at £3.70 an hour, applies when an apprentice is under the age of 18, and for those aged 19 and above in the first year of their apprenticeship.

Apprentices aged 19 and above are entitled to the national minimum wage, which varies according to age up to £7.83 per hour for those aged 25 and above, from the second year of their apprenticeship.

Being paid at the national minimum wage rate of £4.20 an hour for 16 and 17-year-olds would represent a 13 per cent pay rise for the youngest apprentices currently on the apprentice minimum.

For those aged 18 to 20 it would be a 59 per cent rise, while for those aged 21 to 24 it would be a 99 per cent increase. Those aged 25 and above would have a massive 112 per cent pay rise.  

The apprentice minimum wage was introduced in 2010 to both protect apprentices from exploitation and to encourage employers to take on apprentices.

It’s set at a lower rate than the national minimum wage to reflect the fact that apprentices are still in training.

Despite this, Mr Dawe said that paying apprentices the full minimum wage was justified as they “still make significant contributions to those organisations very quickly, and therefore we believe that they deserve above the wage that they’re getting”.

“It’s about showing value in your staff, including your training staff.”

Being paid the same as other employees would also be fairer for apprentices, he said, particularly for older apprentices.

“When they’re having to pick up travel and other general working costs, to then be paid less than the normal minimum wage is a real hit for them,” he said.

Most apprentices are already paid well above the minimum.

According to the apprenticeship pay survey 2016, published in July last year, the average pay for all level two and three apprentices was £6.99 an hour.

Hairdressing apprentices were paid less than those in other sectors, and earned on average just £3.34 an hour.

Paying the national minimum wage would also be simpler for employers, who will “know when they’re being compliant or not compliant very simply”, Mr Dawe said.

While 87 per cent of apprentices aged under 18 or in the first year of their apprenticeship were paid at or above the apprentice minimum, according to the 2016 pay survey, this fell to around two-thirds for older apprentices.

While it was “feasible” that apprentices were being deliberately underpaid, “underpayment could also be the result of mistakes”, it said, including a “delay in an apprentice’s pay following a change in eligibility”.

FE sector in anxious wait as date announced for Budget 2018

The FE sector is waiting anxiously to hear its fate after the date of the next Budget was announced.

Chancellor Philip Hammond (pictured) announced today that he will be setting out the government’s approach to spending for the next year on Monday, October 29. 

The Budget is normally announced in November, but will be earlier this year to avoid clashing with the final stages of Brexit negotiations. 

In a post on Twitter, Mr Hammond wrote: “I’m pleased to announce the Budget will take place on 29 October.

“I’ll set out how our balanced approach is getting debt falling while supporting our vital public services, and how we are building a stronger, more prosperous economy.”

The news is likely to raise pulses across the FE world, after Mr Hammond reportedly told ministries without protected budgets to find savings last month. Although the government has committed to protecting schools budgets, FE funding can still be cut.

The Times reported that Mr Hammond wants various Whitehall departments, including further education, to work with the Treasury to find areas for reduction ahead of next year’s spending review.

The lack of funding for FE has been widely acknowledged. Earlier this month,  a report from the Institute of Fiscal Studies warned that the sector has been the “biggest loser” from changes to government funding, with spending per student falling by eight per cent in real terms since 2010-11. 

In July, skills minister Anne Milton told the education select committee that she was “constantly” fighting the Treasury for more funding after admitting that FE had historically “fallen against other sectors.”

The DfE outcome of the DfE’s current review of the “sustainability” of FE is expected to show the sector needs more funding, not less.

Budget day will come shortly after the Association of Colleges’ ‘week of action’, which will run from October 15 and include a march on Parliament to lobby for fair funding in FE on October 17.  

Budgets are normally set on a Wednesday, but the last Wednesday of October this year falls on Halloween. The BBC said it understood that avoiding Halloween was not a factor in choosing a Monday for the Budget announcement this year. 

Ofqual survey into perceptions of vocational qualifications: 7 key findings

New research by Ofqual has revealed worryingly low levels of understanding among employers of key elements the government’s apprenticeship reforms .

Its survey looked at perceptions of vocational and technical qualifications among 3,000 employers, learners and training providers.

It will allow the exams regulator to “measure changes in levels of understanding and perceived value over time” amid ongoing reforms, according to Phil Beach, Ofqual’s executive director for vocational and technical qualifications.

One of the topics under scrutiny was end-point assessment of apprenticeships. So what did training providers, employers and learners think of them? Here are seven points we learned.

 

  1. Just 20 per cent of employers know the difference between standards and frameworks

Replacing old-style apprenticeship frameworks with higher-quality, employer designed standards is central to the government’s reforms. Unfortunately, most employers didn’t know the difference.

Just 20 per cent of the 1,253 employers surveyed said they understood the difference between the two. This rose to 45 per cent of large employers, but fell to just 11 per cent among micro-businesses.

In comparison, nearly 70 per cent of the 526 training providers surveyed said they understood the difference.

 

  1. Less than 20 per cent of employers fully understand EPA

Just 18 per cent of employers said they had a “very or quite good” understanding of end point assessments.

Again, this rose with organisation size – 40 per cent of large employers reported high levels of understanding, compared with 13 per cent of micro-businesses.

Being part of one of the employer groups that developed an apprenticeship standard also increased understanding, with almost two-thirds of employers that had been part of a Trailblazer group reporting a higher understanding of the apprenticeship final exams.

But, the survey noted, “as very few EPAs had taken place at the time of the fieldwork, it is unlikely that many respondents would have had exposure to them prior to completing it”.

 

  1. Training providers value EPA less than employers and learners do

Fourteen per cent of training providers surveyed disagreed with the statement “we value end-point assessments”, while just a third agreed with it.

In comparison, just five per cent of employers and three per cent of learners said the same.

Nearly 70 per cent of learners agreed with the statement, as did just over 50 per cent of employers.

 

  1. Two-thirds of employers believe people who’ve passed EPA have the skills they need

Around two-thirds of employers agreed with the statement that “people passing end-point assessments have the vocational and technical skills needed by my organisation”.

Among large organisations this rose to 70 per cent, while just 59 per cent of micro-businesses agreed.

A small proportion, around five per cent, disagreed with the statement.

These findings should give the government cause for concern, given that apprenticeship standards were designed to meet employers’ needs.

 

  1. Training providers are less confident than employers that EPA measures the skill employers need

Almost a fifth of training providers disagreed with the statement “I am confident that end-point assessments measure the skills and knowledge that employers want them to”.

This rose to 27 per cent among providers with fewer than 100 learners.

In contrast, just two per cent of employers disagreed with the statement.

 

  1. Employers don’t know how to change assessments that don’t meet their needs

All employers who said they weren’t confident that end-point assessments measured the skills and knowledge they needed were asked if they knew how they could get the assessment changed.

Just three people said yes, but were “unable to articulate how they would go about this”.

 

  1. Learners understand EPA more than training providers think they do

Almost a fifth of training providers disagreed with the statement “learners understand the purpose of end-point assessments”, while just 25 per cent agreed.

But in reality just five per cent of learners disagreed with the statement, while 70 per cent agreed.

This rose to 77 per cent among learners with experience of the workplace.

 

EuroSkills 2018: Team UK’s flag-bearer Elizabeth ‘confident’ after day one

Last night she was specially selected to be the flag-bearer for Team UK, today Elizabeth Newcombe was focused on a different task – intricately designing a wreath and plant arrangement.

The 21-year-old (pictured) from Guildford College, which is in skills minister Anne Milton’s constituency, was “incredibly proud” to lead Team UK out at the opening ceremony yesterday.

“It [the flag] was a bit heavy but a brilliant experience,” she told FE Week. “It was a really proud moment especially because my parents were watching it live.”

A day later she was on the competition floor at EuroSkills Budapest doing what she does best – floristry.

She had to create two arrangements, one hanging wreath inspired by a museum and then a standing piece for a large foyer.

“Today was really good, I’m really happy with the items I completed and I’m looking forward to the next test,” she said.

“I’m feeling pretty confident at this point but I’m going to take it day by day. I’m aiming for the top.”

Over the next two days she’ll be given four tasks. Tomorrow it will be a hand tie bouquet followed by a “surprise” task in the afternoon. Friday she’ll create a bridal bouquet and a top-table arrangement.

Another Team UK competitor feeling positive about their first day was Shane Carpenter, who learns at Nescot College and is employed by BAE Systems.

He’s competing in Information and Communication Technology, a duo skill, with Cameron Barr, also of Nescot College.

Shane is no stranger to international competitions and competed in WorldSkills Abu Dhabi last year where he achieved a medallion of excellence.

He’s feeling mighty confident about today’s work.

“We completely smashed it today,” he told FE Week.

“Couldn’t have asked for a better start. We followed our plan that we talked about in training, we’ve prepped well and followed the process so today has gone absolutely amazing.

“Today we had to upload infrastructure servers so that they can talk to each other and provide email services and have a lot of firewall to restrict certain access to other places.

“Tomorrow we will convert that infrastructure we made into a Windows environment and simulate near enough what we configured today. The third day will be doing the same in Cisco systems.”

He says he “mainly” returned to Team UK to “transfer my knowledge to the next candidate for Kazan” but also because he “loves competing”.

“Coming back has confirmed my love for competitions. It is definitely different but I’m absolutely loving the experience e and Cameron is doing brilliantly well.

“I’m hoping we follow the procedure and hoping to get a medal at the end.”

 

EuroSkills 2018: Breathtaking ceremony opens competition in Budapest

EuroSkills Budapest got off to a breathtaking start tonight as a Hungarian theatre group that will be familiar to the British public mesmerised spectators to officially open the competition.

Thousands packed inside the Papp László Budapest Sport arena for this year’s opener, which was live streamed around the world and featured a speech from the Hungarian prime minister Viktor Orbán.

Kicking off the night was Attraction Shadow Theatre, a group who rose to fame during a performance at the Hungary Olympic oath ceremony for the London 2012 Olympics before winning Britain’s Got Talent in 2013.

Attraction Shadow Theatre performing as a welder

The did a rendition of many of the skills that will be on show over the next three days (click here to watch the performance).

Following the performances were three heartfelt speeches from László Parragh, President of the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Dita Traidas, President of WorldSkills Europe, and Mr Orbán.

The Hungarian prime minister told the EuroSkills competitors they were “part of a greater challenge”.

“Europe faces a serious competitive disadvantage and the only way to overcome it is by training the best skills workers of the world,” he said.

“Start working and kickstart your country – fight for it and lift it high.”

Following the speeches was the parade of nations where each of the 28 competing countries took to the stage in their team waving their flag (see image above). Team UK’s flag-bearer was floristry competitor Elizabeth Newcombe.

The competitor and expert oaths were then read to officially declare the EuroSkills 2018 competition open.

Finishing the night was a performance from Hungarian pop band Irie Maffia.

FE Week spoke with WorldSkills UK chief executive Dr Neil Bentley after the show to hear his thoughts on the spectacle and what is in store for the competitors over the next few days.

“It was an amazing platform to see young people from across the whole of Europe getting ready to compete for something that is going to change their lives,” he said.

“Favourite part of the night was seeing Team UK take to the stage, absolutely amazing. They waited a long time to get up there but seeing the union jack up there in its finest was just brilliant.

“It is game on now. Best of luck to Team UK and everyone else but especially our team. It is going to be an intense competition. We’ve seen the competition space today and it is really brilliant and I know that Team UK is going to do us proud.”

 

 

The competitions at EuroSkills Budapest will open to the public in the Hungexpo at 10Aam tomorrow (September 26) and conclude on Friday, where 80,000 people are expected to attend.

Send your message of good luck to the team using the #TeamUK hashtag on Twitter.

FE Week is proud to be the official media partners for Team UK and WorldSkills UK.

 

3aaa co-founders still own the company despite resignations

The co-founders of crisis-hit Aspire Achieve Advance have remained as the apprenticeship giant’s majority owners despite resigning as directors, FE Week can reveal.

Peter Marples and Di McEvoy-Robinson, who were the company’s chief executive and main director respectively until last week, had their terminations of directorships confirmed on Companies House this morning.

Since their resignations were announced questions have been asked as to who now actually owns and runs the business, better known as 3aaa.

Despite attempts to distance themselves from the troubled company, which is subject to an ongoing Education and Skills Funding Agency investigation, FE Week can reveal that Mr Marples and Ms McEvoy-Robinson remain major shareholders.

Combined they now own 85 per cent of 3aaa – split evenly between the pair.

The provider’s chair, Derek Mapp, owns 10 per cent and new managing director Richard Irons has 5 per cent. Given their majority control, Mr Marples and Ms McEvoy-Robinson can at any time choose to sell assets or controlling ownership.

A spokesperson for the provider confirmed the ownership details to FE Week today.

The ESFA’s investigation into 3aaa was sparked earlier this year when a whistleblower approached the agency with information about its business.

Owing to this, Ofsted declared its latest inspection of the provider, which was expected to result in another ‘outstanding’ rating, as incomplete in June.

A month later it was revealed that an independent auditor, Alyson Gerner, had been called in by the Department for Education to investigate its own funding agency over their contract management of 3aaa.

The provider was last week suspended from recruiting apprentices but FE Week later revealed that senior employees had been “instructed” to tell its staff to not date any paperwork for “planned enrolments”.

They were also been told not to tell current and prospective employers that the ban has been placed upon it. 3aaa had the largest allocation for non-levy apprenticeships last year at nearly £22 million.

Its overall ESFA allocations totalled more than £31 million. Mr Marples’ wife, Sarah, and Ms McEvoy-Robinson’s husband, Patrick, also resigned as directors at 3aaa today, according to Companies House.

College pension contributions likely to rise by over 40% from 2019

Colleges look set to be hit by an increase of more than 40 per cent in the pension contributions they pay for teaching staff.

The Association of Colleges confirmed that provisional figures suggest employer pension contributions will rise from 16.48 per cent to 23.6 per cent next September.

The increase affects all members of the Teacher Pension Scheme. This includes all FE and sixth form colleges, which are required by law to offer membership of the pension scheme to their teaching staff.

The Department for Education has insisted it is still consulting on the final figure. The Treasury previously said the DfE would provide additional funding “in 2019-20 in view of the unforeseen costs”, but a spokesperson said the government will “cover the extra costs” for colleges and schools for the “rest of the spending review”. 

The spending review runs until the end of the 2019-20 financial year, meaning the funding will run out at the end of March 2020. 

Julian Gravatt, deputy chief executive of the AoC, said the association estimates that the cost increase amounts to about £140 million, or two per cent of college income in 2019-20. As colleges already spend an average of 5 per cent of their income (£350 million) on contributions to the Teacher Pension Scheme, this will take costs up to approximately £500 million, or seven per cent of total income.

“If they did nothing, the increase will completely wipe out any surplus that colleges expected to make in 2019-20,” said Mr Gravatt.

“Colleges will need to find other savings because they’ll want to avoid issues their banks. This will hit colleges very hard at just the point where the government needs the sector to invest more.

“The DfE’s top two priorities are retaining teachers and reforming technical education. These extra costs will make this much harder.

“The offer of extra funding from the DfE is welcome, but the DfE needs to confirm that it will cover all colleges and all lines of funding.”

Bill Watkin, chief executive of the Sixth Form Colleges Association, said the association had “made a strong case” to the DfE that any increase to employer pension contributions next year should be fully funded by the government “throughout the next spending review period”.

“This funding, and much needed funding for an increase in teacher pay, must be in addition to the significant increase in the national funding rate we are seeking in the spending review,” he added.

Geoff Barton, general secretary of the Association of School and College Leaders, said: ““The DfE has indicated that there will be additional funding for colleges as well as schools for 2019-20 in respect of the increase in employer contributions to the teachers’ pension scheme. But we don’t know how much this funding allocation will be at present, and we don’t know what will happen after 2019-20 because this matter will become part of next year’s comprehensive spending review.

“We will be making the case very strongly that this increased cost must be met in full by the government in 2019-20 and beyond, and that the budgets of colleges and schools simply cannot sustain yet another unfunded cost.”

Earlier this month, FE Week reported that the outcome of a valuation of teachers’ pensions, which the Treasury undertakes every four years, suggested the public sector workers will get improved benefits from April 2019. This now looks like it will be delayed until September 2019.

A spokesperson for the DfE said: “These public sector pension changes announced by the Treasury will mean better benefits for teachers and staff working throughout our education system – on top of what is already one of the best pension schemes available in the country.

 “We will be consulting with the education sector on these proposals on the basis that the government will cover the extra costs involved for state-funded schools and colleges for the rest of the spending review.”

 

EuroSkills 2018 Budapest: watch the opening ceremony live

Representatives from 28 European countries will this evening attend the opening ceremony of the 10th EuroSkills finals (live stream here).

Over 500 competitors will join Hungary’s prime minister, technical experts, delegates, and supporters to observe the spectacle.

It will take place from 18:30 (BST) and 19:30 (local time) at the biggest sporting complex in Hungary, Papp László Budapest Sportaréna, where organisers have spent several days converting the space ahead of this evening’s event.

The opening ceremony marks the start of a three-day intensive competition in 35 different skills, ranging from mechanical engineering to floristry, which will see competitors undertake their toughest challenges to date.

A group called “Attraction Shadow Theatre” will kick off the night before speeches by László Parragh, President of the Hungarian Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Dita Traidas, President of WorldSkills Europe, and Viktor Orbán, prime minister of Hungary.

A parade of nations will then take place followed by competitor and expert oaths.

Spectators are then in for a treat as EuroSkills Budapest has booked in a “surprise guest” to finish the show.

The ceremony will last for around an hour and a half.

Competitions will officially commence tomorrow morning at the Hungexpo and finish on Friday evening.

The team bringing the most competitors is next year’s hosts of WorldSkills, Russia. They have 48 competitors followed by Austria with 41 and Sweden with 32.

The closing ceremony will take place on Saturday night where results will be announced and medals presented to the winning competitors.

Follow the FE Week twitter feed (@FEWeek) for live coverage of the ceremony and competition.

Send your message of good luck to the team using the #TeamUK. Also include the event hashtag #euroskillsbudapest .

FE Week is proud to be the official media partners for Team UK and WorldSkills UK.

IfA close to losing external quality assurer as contract expires at end of the week

The organisation that delivers external quality assurance on behalf of the Institute for Apprenticeships has yet to sign a new contract, FE Week understands – just days before its existing contract runs out.

Open Awards, a small awarding organisation with a turnover of just £1.5 million and around 30 members of staff, was first awarded the contract following an open tender process in 2017.

Its initial contract ran from August 1 until March 31 2018, but this was subsequently extended to September 30.

With that deadline fast approaching, FE Week understands the two parties have yet to reach agreement, with the negotiations said to be tense.

A spokesperson for the IfA told FE Week that it will be “in a position to say something later this week”.

This follows repeated requests for more information over a number of months.

In July an IfA spokesperson told us it expected to set out its plans for its EQA provision “in the coming weeks”, after we asked if it had decided on its EQA provider for 2018/19.

When we asked again in early September, we were told the institute was “not in a position to say anything externally on this as yet”.

A sticking point in the negotiations is likely to be the size of the contract.

Open Awards’ initial contract was valued at £160,000 for eight months.

At the time, the IfA’s share of the EQA market stood at just 19 per cent, but since then it has more than doubled.

According to the latest Education and Skills Funding Agency figures, the IfA is named as the EQA provider on 44 per cent fully-approved standards, or 150 out of 342.

These include the popular level three team leader/ supervisor standard, responsible for more than 12,000 starts in the first nine months of 2017/18, which currently has 22 different organisation listed as being able to deliver to the end point assessment.

EQA is the process that ensures apprenticeship assessments are consistent and reliable, and that they deliver the right outcomes.

The IfA is one of four options from which employer groups can choose to provide this service.

According to the Department for Education’s strategic guidance, published in April 2017, the IfA was originally intended to be chosen “only in instances where alternatives are not viable”.