We’ll rethink 3m target for apprentices, says Minister

THE Government is likely to miss its target of getting firms to take on three million new apprentices by 2020 – and will have to rethink its strategy next year, the Minister in charge has admitted.

Anne Milton, Minister for skills and apprenticeships, told The Mail on Sunday the Government might use other ways to measure the success of its flagship workplace policy. She said of the target: ‘If I had to guess, I think we’d fall slightly short of it on the basis that I’m not prepared to sacrifice quality over quantity. I think we need to look again at what “success” means. You could look at completions, let’s say. Something like “95 per cent of apprenticeships that are started are completed”.’

Two years ago this month the Government introduced a 0.5 per cent payroll tax on all businesses that have a wage bill topping £3million a year. The cash went into a pot that firms could tap into as they took on apprentices.

Between August 2017 and March 2018 sign-ups fell 28 per cent from 362,400 to 261,000. Milton said this reflected stricter rules to stop firms taking advantage of poorly run schemes. But the number of new apprenticeships rose 10 per cent between August 2018 and January 2019.

A spokesman for the Department for Business said the Government is ‘committed to ending the unacceptable culture of late payments’ and is ‘consulting with the industry’.