Now is the time for business to engage apprentices
Having been ignored for decades, apprenticeships are back for good. According to the government, ‘over 2.1m people have started apprenticeships this Parliament, with a six-fold increase in higher apprenticeships started since 2009-10’. The number is planned to increase and there’s an apprenticeship voucher scheme on the way, scheduled for roll-out in 2017. In yesterday’s Budget from Chancellor George Osborne, the apprentice wage went up by 57p an hour to £3.30 – equivalent to an annual salary increase of over £1,000 for a full time worker.