Third sector support for apprenticeships: New Employers’ Forum launched

Apprenticeships can improve your organisation’s performance, and high quality apprenticeship programmes deliver excellent results for both employer and employee.

This was the message to representatives from over 60 third sector organisations who gathered on 10 February 2011 for the launch of a new Employers’ Forum in central London, which will:

• Support the development, understanding and promotion of apprenticeships in the third sector, including in charities, social enterprises and the voluntary and community sector.
• Provide practical, workshop-based advice on how to get involved with apprenticeships and how to support them within third sector organisations.
• Promote new “Advanced Apprenticeships” for the third sector.

The event, held at the Artworkers Guild during Apprenticeship Week 2011 (7-11 February) was organised by Skills – Third Sector, the skills body for the third sector, in conjuction with Fair Train, the sector’s employer association and the National Apprenticeship Service (NAS).

With competition for employment at an all-time high, apprenticeship programmes are growing in prominence and have recently gained top-level Government support. (Please see “Notes” for references.) The February event showed how they offer an excellent opportunity for addressing third sector skills shortcomings, contributing significantly to providing young people and adults with valuable work experience, skills training and work-based learning, leading to confident and sustainable futures.

Julie Wilkes, chief executive of Skills – Third Sector, says:

“These are tough times for the third sector in a time of broader reforms and cuts, with many organisations strapped for cash. However, this is also a time to build the workforce for the future. Changes have been happening to the skills system, with more recognition of the tacit and latent skills of the population and development of new forms of vocational learning. The third sector needs to be a key player in these changes. Yesterday’s event took place at the Artworkers Guild, and this is significant in that guilds were communities of practice, exercising ownership over a profession.

Continued...

“There is a myth of the third sector not engaging with apprenticeships. There are, however, around 7,000 apprenticeships in existence and 2.5% of them are based in voluntary organisations. The launch of the Employers’ Forum will swell these numbers. The question is one of how we bring together organisations to inform and support the growth of apprentice-ships in our sector?”

Stephen Jeffrey, chair of Fair Train, says:

“The third sector needs to be encouraged to join the changing world of employment and skills. Fair Train is the Group Training Association for the sector. It funds workforce development in a fair and transparent way. We need to ensure that the sector’s employees are properly trained and skilled in order to be competitive and resilient in a changing environment.”

Simon Waugh, NAS chairman, says:

“Apprenticeship Week is a time to raise awareness and celebrate vocational learning. Apprenticeships are one area in which there is cross-party agreement. There have been over 500 events taking place across the country as part of Apprenticeships Week, but I specifically wanted to attend this one. I have experience of the third sector as the chairman of a small children’s charity, Sparks; as a former board member of Help the Aged and previous work on a project with homeless teenagers in the 1980s. I understand the pressures faced by trustees in terms of funding; both giving and public funding. There is a squeeze currently happening across the sector, but it has some of the most extraordinary people I have worked with, and often they are the most professional too. There is also an impressive amount of multi-skilling which goes on.

“Most of the FTSE100 companies run big apprenticeship programmes which are supported by public spending. Third sector organisations are often unaware of the money available as they do not have such large HR or recruitment resources. They are missing a real chance to add real value to their organisation in term of recruitment and productivity and are in danger of being left behind.”

“Notes”

· Founded in October 2008, Skills – Third Sector is the charity making it easier for people in charities and social enterprises to have the right skills to make a difference to people and their communities. For more information, please visit: http://www.skills-thirdsector.org.uk/

· Fair Train is a non-profit organisation providing apprenticeships and related work based learning and training services on behalf of a group of third sector employers, funded by a variety of sources including Government grants. For more information, please visit: http://www.fairtrain.org/

· For more information about Apprenticeship Week 2011 and the National Apprenticeship Service, please visit: www.apprenticeships.org.uk/Awards/Apprenticeship-Week-2011.aspx

· Recent Government support for apprenticeships:

Cable urges more businesses to say 'you’re hired' to an apprentice – 7/2/11

John Hayes delivers new quality guarantee for Apprenticeships – 20/1/11