EDUCATION DOESN’T HAVE TO MEAN UNIVERSITY
Jan-Hein Hemke, Managing Director of contract cleaners Facilicom and its sister-security company Trigion, thinks there are many benefits all round and looks at how the new government Apprenticeship Levy may affect businesses.
With record numbers of students going to university over the past few years, it would seem higher education is very much the preferred route into employment, but it’s not for everyone. Add to that spiralling student debts – totalling over £100bn in the UK for the first time at the end of March – and an apprenticeship can seem a very attractive alternative.
Supporting apprenticeships makes sense on several levels for us at both Facilicom and Trigion and we’re delighted with the progress those involved in our schemes have made. As well as making a profit, our business goals include contributing to general prosperity and playing a positive role in society. Giving people their first step on the career ladder, or a chance to try out a new industry is an important part of that.
An apprenticeship helps get young people in particular out of the loop of not being able to get a job without experience, but not being able to get experience without a job. Gaining an understanding of what it’s like to work full time, and getting paid on a monthly basis while doing it, is an often overlooked, but important part of career development.
It’s not about charity or simply a paid form of work experience though. We look to provide ambitious people with an attractive working environment to help them make the most of their talent; something which clearly benefits our business and our customers.
Apprenticeships give us access to a talent pool we might otherwise miss out on and also open up our industries to people who might not otherwise have considered them. If we want to make the cleaning and security industry something people choose to work in rather than something they fall into, then giving people the
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opportunity to experience it first-hand could make a real difference.
GOVERNMENT SUPPORT The government has made its support for apprenticeships clear through its promise of three million new apprentices by 2020 and the introduction of the Apprenticeship Levy for businesses with annual paybills in excess of £3 million. The tax is designed to generate funding for new apprenticeships, and in the longer term aims to boost the nation’s productivity.
The Apprenticeship Levy, introduced at the beginning of April, is charged at a rate of 0.5% of an employer’s paybill,
with each employer then receiving an allowance of £15,000 to offset against their levy payment. The allowance can then be allocated between all PAYE schemes and connected companies or charities, but any unused allowance can’t be carried over into the next tax year.
The government’s intention is that the Levy is simple to administer, but the perception of many organisations is that the Levy is a stealth tax. The proof of the pudding will of course be in the eating. We don’t yet know whether accessing the funding will be straightforward or whether we face an increase in red tape. The initial rollout did show some weaknesses of the system. We hope that, rather than being yet another burden, the Levy will give people the chance to review and improve their training and development programmes.
Ideally this new levy will help reduce the administrative burden and make it easier to bring apprentices into a business. We are all for developing young people and believe quality training is essential if we are to develop the professionalism of those in the cleaning and security industry. It’s something we’re fully committed to, so we hope the Levy can meet its stated goals.
WORLD OF
OPPORTUNITIES Apprenticeships are a great way into the world of opportunity offered by the cleaning industry and help us build sustainable communities and businesses. Hopefully the Apprenticeship Levy will make that easier. Then apprenticeships may become as valued as a university education and school leavers will have a genuine choice on how to begin their working life.
www.facilicom.co.uk twitter.com/TomoCleaning
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