- Grow your team whilst keeping staff costs down
Apprenticeships mean employees can earn and learn at the same time. The National Minimum Wage for an apprentice starts from £5.28 per hour from April 2023. Around a third of apprentice employers reported they had benefitted from a lower wage bill; this would relate to the minimum wage for apprentices being lower than for other employees.
- Make recruitment and hiring of staff simpler and cost-effective
Bridgwater & Taunton College have a dedicated team of Business Account Managers who can help you with the entire recruitment process and help find you the right apprentice for your business needs. Furthermore, 13% of employers said the main reason they took on an Apprentice was for their cost and affordability.
- Access to funding
Now has never been a better time to take on an apprentice. Large businesses will be able to access funding for training costs directly from their levy account, whilst smaller businesses will only pay 5% of the costs. If you are a business with less than 50 FTE, you will not have to pay any costs for apprentices aged 16-18.
- Nurture and grow talent to meet your business needs
Apprenticeships are a great way to get new skills into your organisation. 85% of employers reported the development of skills relevant to their organisation as a benefit of taking on an apprentice. 82% of employers were particularly satisfied that they had been able to select an apprenticeship relevant to their needs. Businesses can rely on the Apprenticeship programme to provide the skilled workers that they need now and in the future.
- Reducing staff turnover
Develop your apprentices to become future managers. Helping create a career pathway for your apprentices will ensure that you reduce staff turnover and keep loyal staff who have been embedded into your organisation’s culture and ethos. Amongst those who train existing employees as apprentices, 76% reported improved staff retention as a benefit of training apprentices.
- Value and reward for existing employees
Taking on an apprentice can free up your existing workforce to do what they do best, whilst at the same time having the opportunity to pass on their skills and experience to the next generation of employees. Existing apprenticeship employees reported that the main reason for providing Higher or Degree apprenticeships was to help staff develop their skills, followed by to create progression for employees as part of their workforce development.
- Providing training that is right for your business needs
Apprenticeships enable you to train new or existing employees with support from Bridgwater & Taunton College. Our current offer from Level 2 through to Degree Level Apprenticeships across all key employment sectors, means that there is something for everyone in your organisation.
- Meeting your social responsibility
Every employer has a wider responsibility to their local community and society. By taking on an apprentice you will be:
- Increasing the life chances of young people and boosting the economy.
- Demonstrating that as a business you are socially responsible, and raising the business’s community profile.
- Helping to tackle unemployment in the local area, and creating a more diverse workforce.
- Supporting the UK’s strategy to help young people into employment.
- You’re supported every step of the way
Apprenticeships can be a complex subject if you are new to them or haven’t revisited Apprenticeships in your organisation for a while. At Bridgwater & Taunton College we have a team of specialist staff to support you through the complexities. Our team are knowledgeable experts in funding and the entire Apprenticeship system. We will allocate you an Employer Account Manager who will work closely with you throughout different stages of the process.
- Apprenticeships are good for business
Employers experienced a wide range of benefits as a result of training apprentices. The most common was the development of skills relevant to their organisation (85%), while over three-quarters benefitted from increased productivity (78%), and the creation of progression for employees as part of their workforce development (38%) for higher and degree apprenticeships. Nearly two thirds of private sector employers with either current or completer apprentices expect their business to grow in the next 12 months (62%).
Interest in taking on an Apprentice? Call our team of Business Relationship Managers, who offer a single point of contact for all aspects of your workforce development needs on 01278 655111, email business@btc.ac.uk or submit an enquiry here.
*Facts and statistics taken from Department for Education Apprenticeships evaluation 2021: Employer survey
