apprenticeship vision 2017 - ccatf · apprenticeships can offer some of the highest returns, but...

Apprenticeship Vision 2017

CCATF Apprenticeship Vision 2017

“To champion the ethos and culture of training within the construction sector by working with industry peers and stakeholders; to encourage those not training to do so and those that train to do more by promoting the benefits and value that hiring an apprentice can bring.”

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ContentsApprenticeship Vision Foreword Rt. Hon Rob Halfon MP 02

A vision for the future Martyn Price MBE 05

City & Guilds and CCATF build strong foundations 06

A perfect storm Kirstie Donnelly MBE 07

Unprecedented challenges Mark Farmer 08

10 good reasons to be an Apprentice 12

End of an era Geoff Lister CBE 15

Our supporters 16


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Apprenticeship Vision Foreword

The construction industry is crucial to the economy; and like all our industries, it needs people who are equipped with the right skills, education and training to help it be competitive and grow.

Everyone should have the opportunity to learn or acquire the skills they need to get on and progress up the ladder of opportunity, irrespective of their age or background. We are therefore committed to ensuring we have a strong skills system that can drive increases in productivity, improvements in social mobility and help make a success of Brexit.

As we make our exit from the EU, ensuring we have the right domestic construction skills will be equally vital, and essential to the success of our industrial strategy. We need to be strong, dynamic and build up many areas of our economy and industries – and the construction industry will play a major role in that building project.

Central to this is the creation of a new system of Technical Education to benefit the half of young people who do not go to university and provide new, better options for upskilling those already in the workforce. We will create a small number of high quality new routes as part of a ladder of opportunity, which will raise the prestige of technical education and ensure widespread, quality provision; raising the quality of higher skills training. The construction pathway will be key to these reforms and I hope the industry will be fully engaged as we develop our plans.

The Technical Education reforms will complement the reforms already in place for apprenticeships, which are crucial to raising prestige and equipping people with the skills employers need. Meeting skills needs is a crucial rung to the ladder of opportunity as we offer people from all backgrounds a more prestigious technical and professional education that prepares them for careers and professional life. The ladder of opportunity’s social justice rung will enable all those from disadvantaged backgrounds progress to skilled employment.

The benefits of apprenticeships are well documented – they benefit individuals, they benefit employers and they benefit the economy.

Our commitment to 3 million apprentices by 2020, therefore, remains strong and we are doing all we can to support this. The apprenticeship levy we are introducing in April aims to tackle the underinvestment in training by employers we have seen for many years, and I hope will encourage and incentivise employers to take on more apprentices and get them trained with the skills that they want and need.

Apprenticeships enable people to reach the top rung of the ladder of opportunity represented by jobs, security and the prosperity of higher lifetime earnings. Whilst we want to see more apprenticeships, we want to ensure that they are high quality, highly sought-after apprenticeships and so from April 2017, the Institute for Apprenticeships (IfA), a new independent body led by employers, will safeguard the quality of apprenticeship standards across the country.

As with all of our reforms, employers will play a key role in the IfA. Employers already lead on designing new standards and we are now putting funding control in their hands, through the introduction of the apprenticeship levy, so they can secure the training they need. Having employers at the heart of our reforms demonstrates their crucial role in ensuring they, and the country, have people with the right skills.

With over 20,000 apprenticeships starts in the construction skills sector in 2015-16, it is now leading the way on designing new apprenticeship standards, with over 30 construction standards in development and a further 15-20 expected in the future. I am grateful for the work the Cross-industry Construction Apprenticeships Task Force has carried out in this area.

There is also a great opportunity to ramp-up the contribution apprenticeships make to enhancing social justice. Engineering and construction apprenticeships can offer some of the highest returns, but only 7.4% and 1.8% respectively of all apprentices are female, and in engineering 5.7% of starts were from black and minority ethnic backgrounds. The industry is already doing good work this area and with the greater investment in apprenticeships, there is the opportunity to do even more.

“The benefits of apprenticeships are well documented – they benefit individuals, they benefit employers and they benefit the economy”

For example, in construction 10.8% of apprenticeships have a learning difficulty and/or disability – this is an excellent place to build from. Achieving all of this will be a true partnership between different government departments, employers and local areas. That is why I was pleased to have launched the Apprenticeship Diversity Champions Network early this year; a Network made up of 23 employers (including from the construction industry) and chaired by Nus Ghani MP, to promote and champion diversity in apprenticeships.

The Task Force’s work with employers, providers and stakeholders in the industry and development of new standards is important and I welcome its continued involvement and support of our ambitions in order to promote the benefit and take-up of apprenticeships. One of my top priorities is to ensure that provision meets the needs of employers and attracts people to the industry. As the Minister for skills and apprenticeships, I am delighted to support the work and ambitions of the CCATF.

Rt. Hon Rob Halfon MP Minister of State for Higher Education, Skills, Apprenticeships and Careers

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A vision for the futureThe CCATF can once again be extremely proud of its successes and achievement as we look back and reflect on 2016, whilst recognising the opportunities and the potential to play an even greater part in the future apprenticeship agenda for the construction sector.

Our alliance with City & Guilds comes at a crucial point in our history, representing, as it does, an outstanding opportunity to combine and showcase our respective capabilities all centred around the development of apprenticeships and skills. City & Guilds is a perfect match for the CCATF because many of our apprenticeship ambitions align.

At a time when many construction firms are coming to terms with a new apprenticeship landscape it is essential that there is co-ordinated support available. With the planned changes large numbers of organisations, in the SME construction sector, may become more confused and unsure about apprenticeships and the potential cost and benefit implications. The partnership should offer more certainty and reassurance to stabilise future apprenticeship commitments.

Bringing capabilities together as this agreement does is a fantastic boost for our industry and the organisations, from small to large. We are confident this approach will elevate the work we do to new levels and contribute to supporting the government target of 3 million apprentices.

Given this announcement it is with no small amount of optimism that we move into 2017 well positioned and well equipped to make a significant contribution to the skills and apprenticeship agenda within the construction sector.

The introduction of the apprenticeship levy and the birth of the Institute for Apprenticeships adds a dynamic to which businesses must firstly embrace in order to maximise the potential this offers. The opportunity to be involved in designing and developing apprenticeship standards on this scale is unprecedented. These standards have the capability of supporting employers needs and delivering the essential skills whilst incorporating new technologies and modern methods of construction.

Industry skills gaps are likely to be further affected by the UK’s plans to leave the European Union as a result of the Brexit vote in June 2016. The wider implications and the challenges are compounded within our sector where we already rely heavily on oversees workers.

Additionally, at the time of publication the impact and the real effects and outcomes of the general election have yet to fully reveal themselves. Regardless of this, what we trust remains in place is the universal and cross-party support for the apprenticeships agenda.

Separately I would like to extend my thanks and appreciation to the other distinguished contributors to this apprenticeship vision document. Once again for me, it demonstrates the effectiveness and the outreach we have when we can galvanise such authoritative, qualitative and varied contributions.

I would also like to thank my CCATF board and the expanding CCATF team for their contributions and for their fabulous support helping me to drive the operation forward.

Members too, have played a significant role in helping us achieve our goals and our memberships base has more than doubled in the past twelve months. Supply chain engagement and member services are at the heart of our ambitions for the future.

Finally, more than anything else we still live by our mission to – champion the ethos and culture of training within the construction industry by working with industry peers and stakeholders to encourage those not training to do so and those that train to do more by promoting the benefits and value that hiring an apprentice can bring.

Martyn Price MBE Chairman

CCATF Apprenticeship Vision 2017CCATF Apprenticeship Vision 2017

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Government spending on UK infrastructure will hit record levels in the next five years with the construction of new homes, improvements to transport networks, and high profile construction projects such as High Speed 2 and Crossrail, a nuclear power station at Hinckley Point and an extra runway planned for London.

Unquestionably this has brought about an increasing demand for a highly skilled workforce to meet these infrastructure targets. However, it comes at a time when the construction industry is suffering from a long established skills shortage and an often reported image problem acting as a deterrent for potential new entrants - only 10% of the industry are currently aged between 19 and 24, and only 11% of the workforce are female. Employers therefore regularly struggle to recruit staff with the right skills, qualifications or experience, and advertised apprenticeship positions remain unfilled.

This situation is only likely to get worse in the coming years with the predicated high retirement rate of construction workers and the as yet unknown impact of Brexit.

This current low profile of the construction industry is amplified in schools, with weak careers advice and limited access given to employers. As our Great Expectations research among 14-19 year olds showed, young people simply aren’t aware of many of the available career options within the construction industry or of the meaningful opportunities for work experience.

At the same time, the skills training landscape is going through extensive reform of both apprenticeships and technical training, introducing the new employer-led trailblazer standards and the Post-16 Skills Plan over the next couple of years.

The new ‘Trailblazer’ standards are a result of a dramatic transformation of apprenticeships in England. This new style of apprenticeships are

employer-led and have been designed to meet the changing needs of industry. As part of these reforms employers with a paybill in excess of £3million will now pay an apprenticeship levy of 0.5% from April 2017.

The Post-16 Skills Plan is the Government’s response to recommendations outlined in the Sainsbury’s report, and forms part of the Government’s wider reform of professional and technical education. Construction is one of 15 technical routes to be made available to 16 to 19 year olds as an alternative to A-levels, and will provide learners with core knowledge and skills before specialising in an occupation.

The Government is aiming for the first six of these new qualifications to be ready for first teaching by September 2019. Reform of technical education is needed but the implementation plan set out by Government is extremely challenging to achieve.

In addition to these reforms, the Government is also reviewing the role of the industry’s training board, CITB, and CITB is conducting its own review of its construction levy and grant schemes.

So it is against this background that City & Guilds and CCATF decided to join forces, aiming to provide more certainty and guidance to the industry, and helping to stabilise future apprenticeship commitments.

Apprenticeship Vision – A perfect storm

Kirstie Donnelly MBE, Managing Director, City & Guilds

CCATF Apprenticeship Vision 2017 CCATF Apprenticeship Vision 2017

City & Guilds and CCATF join forces to build strong foundations for construction industry

Global leaders in skills development City & Guilds and the Cross-Industry Construction Apprenticeship Task Force (CCATF) have joined forces to bring a new approach to apprenticeships in the UK construction industry, ensuring that it has the skilled people it needs both now and in the future.

The collaboration between the two organisations comes at a crucial time for construction ahead of the launch of the new apprenticeship levy in April 2017. It also precedes the forthcoming exit from the European Union – which is likely to bring new challenges to an industry which often relies on overseas workers.

Kirstie Donnelly MBE, Managing Director City & Guilds said: “The UK construction industry is at the very backbone of UK PLC as it provides the buildings and infrastructure the country needs to thrive. However, the sector is often beset by skills gaps and desperately needs more skilled staff to enable it to meet the growing demands of the country. Following the introduction of the levy in April apprenticeships will undoubtedly be even more crucial to meeting the skills needs of the sector.

“City & Guilds are therefore delighted to announce a very timely alliance with CCATF which will build on the great work they are already doing to develop and promote apprenticeships and drive up standards in the sector over the coming years, boosting their efforts to building the world class construction workforce of tomorrow.”

The well-timed collaboration between the two organisations seeks to tackle key issues relating to the new construction apprenticeships from grant/funding bands through to the provision of end point assessments and will support construction organisations large and small across the UK.

The alliance will also deliver support for major contractors and SME’s across a range of areas such as supply chain intervention, pathway to construction and one-to-one engagement, as well as regular, quality updates, information, advice and guidance.

CCATF Chairman, Martyn Price MBE, said: “The collaboration with City & Guilds is an outstanding opportunity to combine and showcase our respective capabilities all centred around the development of apprenticeships and skills. City & Guilds is a perfect match for the CCATF as many of our apprenticeship ambitions align”.

“At a time when many construction firms are coming to terms with the reality of a new apprenticeship landscape it is essential that there is co-ordinated support available. With the planned changes, large numbers of organisations in the SME construction sector may become more confused and unsure about apprenticeships and the potential cost and benefit implications. The partnership should offer more certainty and reassurance to stabilise future apprenticeship commitments.”

“Bringing capabilities together as this agreement does is a fantastic boost for our industry and the organisations, from small to large. We are confident this approach will elevate the work we do to new levels and contribute to supporting the government target of 3 million apprentices.

Given this announcement it is with no small amount of optimism that we move into 2017 well positioned and well equipped to make a significant contribution to the skills and apprenticeship agenda within the construction sector”.

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The insidious creep of an ageing workforce now combined with further possible issues relating to the course of our Brexit negotiations are creating risks to the industry’s future workforce shape that have never been experienced before. If you combine this with the on-going problems of getting aspiring and motivated youngsters into long term employment in sufficient numbers in our industry, this looks clearly like an unsustainable position which threatens the future of UK construction.

However, set against this negative backdrop, a series of new opportunities have presented themselves which, if grasped by the industry, could represent a seminal moment for construction modernisation and a wholesale reform of what skills we need, how we train them and how they link to both existing traditional and new innovative delivery techniques.

To rehearse these opportunities, I would firstly highlight the current review being undertaken of the Construction Industry Training Board (CITB). My 2016 government review of the UK Construction Labour Model, entitled ‘Modernise or Die’ concluded that the current grant / levy system is not fit for purpose and the CITB does not appear to have general backing from industry.

One of the key concerns I also raised was the dysfunctional relationship between the size of businesses and their level of grant recovery. The fact that larger businesses have been recovering more grant whilst the actual burden of much of the training is being borne by smaller businesses was a key observation. This and addressing many other strategic direction issues about what courses are offered, how they align to industry needs and how they are funded goes to the heart of hopefully creating a relevant and better functioning training and skills environment which will be capable of enabling the industry to modernise and transform itself.

The second opportunity is the Government’s recent Industrial Strategy Green Paper which has clearly positioned ‘developing skills’ as one of its 10 pillars. This is not just about business as usual, this is about redefining industry sector skills which will boost productivity and growth through a renewed focus on technical and vocational education. We have seen the first signs of this already in the Government’s recent announcements regarding ‘T levels’.

Thirdly, the Government has recently published its Housing White Paper, which has made very clear references to skills, training and innovation as part of housing policy objectives. The role of house building in the construction industry is important and the government has made it clear it is willing through policy measures and direct funding, to promote a healthier construction industry, with new pathways into industry being defined alongside prompt decisions and certainty on what the future role of CITB may be.

Notwithstanding all of the above, I recognise the less publicised problems that the industry is facing and the ‘grass roots’ barriers faced by individual employers on the ground when it comes to committing to apprenticeship training. We constantly bemoan the fact that the industry suffers from insufficient truly sustainable apprenticeship opportunities being created. The hard reality is that the SME sector bears the brunt of that training burden, often subsidising the cost way beyond CITB grant recovery.

The cyclical nature of the industry with inability to see a stable demand profile creates a risk that investment in training will not being recovered in the long term with little job stability or worker loyalty. Concern over the quality of some of FE courses is also acting as a barrier to further commitment to apprenticeships.

Apprenticeship Vision – Unprecedented Challenges

CCATF Apprenticeship Vision 2017 CCATF Apprenticeship Vision 2017

The construction industry is facing unprecedented challenges over the next few years. The scale of those challenges is such that they cannot be ignored or considered to be mere temporary growing pains that we seem to get in every ‘boom’ before the inevitable next ‘bust’.


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Mark Farmer—CEO Cast Real Estate & Construction Consultancy

they often do not have the drive or ambition to become properly skilled and make a real go of a career in the industry.

The majority though are being let down by a broken system that does not give them the correct grounding to be subsequently employable. Hopefully a consolidated ‘T level’ for construction, co-created with industry and delivered through a fully re-vetted FE supply chain, will address this and will become an industry recognised calling card for further work based training and career based employment.

The work of the Cross-Industry Construction Apprenticeship Task Force (CCTAF) is therefore critical in representing an industry ‘voice’ in the critical period ahead. Government are unlikely to listen to factions or industry sub-groups who see the world of training purely through their own lens. The need for a collective and joined up viewpoint will be key to ensuring the industry gets what it needs from government in terms of a coordinated education and industrial strategy request on behalf of construction.

I believe the CCATF is very well positioned to understand the key issues and to drive the changes that are necessary to ensure we have a fit for purpose, 21st century construction industry, which is embracing modernisation but also creating real social value through more sustainable opportunities for a more diverse range of home grown talent. I am very happy to be supporting the CCATF in achieving this ambition for industry.

On the demand cyclicality and loyalty point, apprenticeship funding support needs to be clearly injected into the parts of the supply chain where people are physically employed and where skills development demands are greatest rather than money being skewed towards larger businesses who process manage or aggregate those that employ. In addition, the visibility of construction workload needs to improve to help businesses invest in training.

Government has a key role to play here in supporting better demand planning through the timing of its long term housing and infrastructure commissioning decisions so helping to ‘smooth’ the cycles of construction demand and make investment in work based training an easier choice for businesses. An additional point to watch is the current changes in the employment market related to National Insurance Contribution alterations and a swathe of legal cases related to so called ‘false self-employment’. It would be helpful if some of this change led to a greater culture of direct employment within construction and the nurturing of longer term career loyalty amongst the workforce.

Turning to the FE course quality point, courses will need to be carefully re-designed pursuant to the government’s Post 16 Skills Plan to ensure the balance between vocational and knowledge based learning is right. Vocational learning needs to be better picked up by the FE sector to ensure apprentices are more work ready and are productive earlier.

There should also be a rationalisation in who is running construction related courses to perhaps pursue a ‘centre of excellence’ approach where real focus, industry alignment and high quality facilities and teachers prevail.

The number of people in full time post 16 construction related education is in fact many multiples of the number of new apprentices joining our industry every year. This slightly contradicts the common viewpoint that we struggle to get 16 year olds aligned to the construction industry. The harsh reality though is that some of this cohort are pursuing these courses purely as it was a last resort for them and


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good reasons to support and be an apprentice10Apprentices give employers an edge over their competitors with more than 80% of clients favouring firms that employ apprentices

Apprentices help business manage the risks of skills shortages

Apprentices are eager to learn and are highly productive

Apprentices contribute to the business’ bottom line and make businesses more competitive

80%

Apprentices help develop the supervisory skills of existing employees

Apprentices can be trained according to the needs of the business and can develop flexible skills set

Apprentices quickly become skilled employees

Apprentices help reduce staff turn over

Apprentices are loyal to the firm with the majority remaining with the same employer and undertaking additional responsibilities

Apprenticeship training is supported by government funding and the CITB Grant Scheme, making it affordable for employers

£


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Our commitment to 3m apprentices by 2020 therefore remains strong, and we are doing all we can to support this.

After almost ten years as Chairman and recently as a director of CCATF Geoff Lister has decided to step down from the role and enjoy a well-deserved retirement.

Originally the CCATF was launched in December 2007 for an initial period of two years, with the clear aim of getting construction sector apprentice numbers up to a figure that would match the skills requirements over that period. Sir Michael Latham, Chairman of CITB and David Lammy, the Skills Minister at the time spoke at the launch event in Whitehall which was well attended by CEO’s and senior representatives of the whole construction industry, including government department members from the Department for Business and the Skills Funding Agency at the time.

The launch was followed by the first meeting of the CCATF when Geoff was elected Chairman. Through the membership, a support process was put in place to set an agenda and create a mission statement that made the newly formed organisation accountable to look after the apprenticeship agenda. It also created the framework underpinning working with CITB and the whole industry, supported by the government to really raise the issue of apprenticeships and re-establish the career path in construction that had been slipping away somewhat over the previous few years.

Geoff was aware of the challenges that had to be met but the whole issue was temporarily thrown into chaos with the recession of 2008/9 when over 3500 apprentices lost their jobs when many house builders closed down their sites. The CCATF was called upon to work with the government and became members of John Denham’s Government task force to find other jobs and solutions for many of the apprentices so their skills would not be lost for the future.

The life of the CCATF was extended several times by CITB and until recently, was hosted by the Federation of Master Builders where it thrived and expanded its brief so that it became the central hub for the industry concerns and activity on all matters regarding apprenticeships.

More recently, the “Pathway to Construction” initiative has become an important part of the work of the CCATF with Geoff going out to all sections of the industry to raise funds to help full time FE college students gain work experience with employers which would lead to an apprenticeship. This is a scheme that runs to this day with new funding continuing to be raised from industry partners, something the CCATF and Geoff in particular is very proud of.

Geoff was also proud to be recognized in the Queen’s Birthday Honours in July 2013 when he was awarded the CBE for services to training in the construction industry.

It has been a really difficult decision for Geoff to step down and retire but having handed over the chairmanship of the CCATF in to the very capable hands of Martyn Price last year and gaining a further three years partnership support from City & Guilds, he decided now was the right time to be able to spend more time with family and the fishing tackle and accept the fact that it is right to be able to look back and leave a legacy that will continue successfully for the benefit of all the young people who seek a career in our great industry.

Everyone at the CCATF and those who have worked with Geoff over the last 9 years will, we are sure, wish him and his very supportive and loving wife Pauline a happy and healthy retirement when he finally retires at the end of this year.

End of an era

G.H.Lister CBE, FCIOBCCATF Inaugural Chair & Director

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Our supporters

I’m valued… I’m being trained as I work… I’m improving my skills… I’m getting paid…

I’m an Apprentice

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www.ccatf.org.uk | 0113 274 8171

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Visit: www.ccatf.org.uk

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apprenticeship vision 2017 - ccatf · apprenticeships can offer some of the highest returns, but...

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