Unites concerns comes ahead of the levy introduction on 6 April, which will see all companies with a pay bill over £3 million per annum have to pay the Levy (0.5% of their employees pay).
The levy aims to help the government meet its target of creating three million apprenticeship starts by 2020, but Unite is concerned about a fall in quality.
Its principal concern is the lack of measures to prevent a rise in inferior apprenticeships as organisations try to get back Levy money. The union also said it welcomes the new apprenticeship standards, which should ensure all apprenticeships are of a ‘decent quality’, however, the existing discredited framework system will also remain in place until 2020.
Acting general secretary Gail Cartmail, said the government is serving up a “curate's egg”.
“On the one hand, they will be pointing to the improved quality of apprentices by highlighting the new standards regime. On the other, they will be trying to meet their three million target [by] relying on apprentices following the discredited framework system.
“We have consistently argued against ‘scores on doors’ and believe the government should be primarily concerned with quality and meeting the actual needs of different industrial sectors.
“If unscrupulous employers are subverting the apprenticeship system in any way, they need to be named and shamed. Apprenticeships need to be a gold standard, providing skills for life and not degraded and used as a way of acquiring cheap labour.”
The union has now urged the government to reconsider including a trade union voice in the Institute of Apprenticeships, which will administer the levy.
Its warning comes on the same day as an MPs sub-committee on education, skills and economy report, formed from the education and business select committees, is published, which says that the government's flagship apprenticeships policies have a worrying lack of focus and will not fill widening skills gaps unless they concentrate on sectors and regions where training is most needed.
Concerns about the levy have been raised in the past. A report by EEF, the manufacturers’ organisation, in March revealed that “manufacturers are finding themselves in scope of the levy because of complex tax rules, and are automatically disadvantaged because they operate across the UK”.
“The perception that the levy is nothing more than a tax has not been erased, and a worrying number of manufacturers still see no benefits from it,” the EEF report warned.
It added that manufacturers are seeking to embrace the levy, with the report finding that it should, in the short to medium term, increase the number of engineering apprenticeships. However, it warned that maintaining this over time “is a major worry”.
