5 myths employers have about apprenticeships

The theme for this year's National Apprenticeship Week is 'build the future' so we wanted to give employers the confidence to invest in their staff and their future through an apprenticeship.  

Apprenticeships are an amazing way to upskill your workforce. With there being over 700 different apprenticeships to choose from, there are a wealth of possibilities when it comes to ensuring your staff are working to the best of their abilities.  

We hear plenty of questions and concerns from employers looking into apprenticeships so we wanted to myth-bust a couple of common worries.

 1. “Apprenticeships cannot be used for existing staff”. 

Actually, apprenticeships can be used to upskill and retrain new or existing employees! Apprenticeships are a brilliant way to invest in your staff and ultimately contributes to better business performance. Investing in your employees is such an important factor in staff retention and is an amazing way of attracting the best talent.  

2. “Apprenticeships are only for young people (16-18)”  

Apprenticeships are available to people of all ages – anyone over the age of 16 living in England can apply. Whether you are working towards a promotion, which requires a new skill, or you have decided to have a change in career, apprenticeships are for everyone.  

3. “Apprenticeships are only for hands-on trades” 

False! Although apprenticeships started in trades like construction and hairdressing, it is no longer limited to just this. There are courses available to suit so many different roles in a range of skilled industries. View our current apprenticeship offering here.

4. “Because we don’t pay into the Apprenticeship Levy, we will have to pay the full training cost”  

There is a lot of funding the government can offer to smaller businesses. It is always worth asking us the question to see what funding you could be entitled to. In some cases, the apprenticeships will be fully funded! Click here to find out more about funding. 

5. “The 20%, off the job training will get in the way of the person's actual job”.

Although it's correct that 20% of an apprentices time will be off the job training, this does not mean they will always have to be away from the workplace. Some courses allow us to come to the learner’s workplace for assessments and a lot of this training will occur as the apprentice learns more within their role. 

If you’re interested in finding out more, get in touch! You can contact our apprenticeship team by calling 0116 224 2240 or you can email us.