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1:00 PM 11th February 2021
business
Opinion

National Apprenticeship Week: ‘Build The Future’ Through Young Talent' - Terry Jones BDO

 
‘Build the future’ through young talent, Terry Jones, partner and Head of Yorkshire at BDO LLP considers the importance of apprenticeships.

This year’s theme for National Apprenticeship Week 2021 is ‘Build the Future’. Never has a topic seemed more pertinent than this does right now. While a plethora of Yorkshire businesses have bought into this approach for many years, it seems more relevant – and important – than ever before that we look towards young talent and invest in improving skills, as we follow a pathway to regional recovery.

Terry Jones
Terry Jones
I’m not alone in recognising the potential that exists in our future workforce and the part that they will play in rebuilding the Yorkshire economy. Our latest Rethinking the Economy survey of mid-sized businesses in Yorkshire, demonstrates that commitment to nurturing talent. Hiring apprentices and graduates ranked highly in the list of things companies intend to invest in over the next six months, with nearly a fifth of businesses realising the possibilities it can bring.

This sentiment is nothing new to the region. Consistently over the last 12 months, as we’ve journeyed through the coronavirus pandemic, businesses have nailed their colours to the mast, identifying talent as a potential route out of the economic situation that COVID-19 has presented us with. Time and again, Yorkshire businesses have placed people front and centre of their recovery plans, despite the immense pressure being placed on business leaders to protect jobs.

The rise in popularity of apprenticeships has been clear to see in recent years. According to the latest government figures, 4.2 million apprenticeships were started between 2010/11 and 2018/19, with 742,400 people participating in one last year alone. Interestingly, the latest statistics show that a larger proportion of over 25s started an apprenticeship in 2018/19, with 44% at an advanced level.

The apprenticeship levy has undoubtedly helped to create long-term sustainable funding for apprenticeships and, while the number of starters fell by 60% in May 2020, due the global pandemic, there is a clear movement towards employing and upskilling future talent.

It’s my view that we need to take extra care of the next generation of talent who have been disproportionately impacted over the last year – an area we will be placing additional emphasis on in the coming year, particularly given the significant disruption that’s been caused to the education system since March 2020.

Time and again, we reap the rewards of school leavers, in particular, who come into our business full of enthusiasm, energy and with a thirst to learn, adding a fresh dynamic to our teams. The benefits they provide a business are plentiful – they can make valuable contributions to a business by learning on the job and being monitored through rigorous assessments, while helping to fill the skills gap with a huge variety of standards to choose from.

As a firm, we believe strongly in the power that future talent can bring, recruiting almost 400 trainees in the last year, with more than 20,000 applications for our trainee scheme. In Yorkshire, we recruited 17 new trainees at the end of 2020, with a further 17 roles available to start in 2021, split across both graduate and school leaver apprenticeship programmes. We’ve also ranked highly as an apprenticeship employer.
Investing in talent is hugely important to businesses in the current climate, particularly in young people looking to kick-start their careers. The government has placed a strong emphasis on this, by announcing plans in 2020 to invest £2 billion in helping more young people find jobs, with an additional £1.6 billion to be invested in training and apprenticeship programmes. The Chancellor outlined the measures to help young people, acknowledging they’d been ‘hardest hit’ by COVID-19’s impact on employment.

Whatever corner you stand in, there is an overwhelming force behind future talent and harnessing that potential. Greater incentives have been placed on the table by the government, and the mood suggests that businesses are in agreement about the positive impact that apprentices and graduates can make. The key will be committing to those plans and taking the responsibility to help make up the deficit of apprenticeship starters that has undoubtedly worsened since May. With 7,000 apprenticeship opportunities currently available, there is clear potential for ensuring that we ‘build the future’.