The apprenticeship cost benefits
The new apprenticeship scheme for lifting equipment engineers offers a way to invest in training to develop and retain the skills of the future, while creating loyalty and improving relationships, says Ross Moloney, CEO of LEEA.
The LEEA’s new Lifting Equipment Technician apprenticeship is now live. Among the training providers raring to go with the new scheme is City of Bristol College, which enjoys a high reputation for training in aeronautics and other engineering fields.
Simon Arnold, Director of Business and Commercial Partnerships at the College, is enthused at the prospect for the College, for employers and for learners. “We have been working with LEEA to bring their engineering and business expertise and knowledge into the College. Now, we are bringing you the employers in to design with us the delivery of a really exciting apprenticeship that delivers the skills, knowledge and behaviours you need”.
Apprenticeships, Arnold believes, are an obvious choice. Among employers of apprentices, 86% say they help provide relevant skills, 78% see productivity improvements, and 74% believe that product or service quality is improved. Apprenticeships can be used to train new recruits, but equally they are a means of upskilling existing staff. Either way, investing in training is a way of developing and retaining the skills of the future while creating loyalty and improving relationships.
Although ‘investment’ may be overstating the case. The cost of the apprenticeship is capped at £12,000, but the charge to the employer is just £600 – or often, nothing. If the company pays the Apprentice Levy, the cost comes out of their ‘pot’. An employer of fewer than 50 pays nothing for an apprentice aged under 19. It is also possible for a small firm to ‘buddy up’ with a larger supply chain partner, the latter using their Levy pot to fund mutually beneficial improvement in the smaller firm. The fee can be reduced to reflect the learner’s existing knowledge base, and although Government incentive schemes are currently in abeyance, these may well be reintroduced.
The role of the College is much wider than just providing labs and lecturers. Bristol can be fully involved in the recruitment of new staff or the identification of upskilling opportunities in the existing workforce. They can help with or manage vacancy advertising (including social media) and support assessment and selection from CV matching to mounting assessment days.
And although working to a detailed Standard, delivery of the new apprenticeship allows for great flexibility to meet the needs of employer and learner. Class-based training can be face-to-face, in College or at LEEA’s facilities in Huntingdon, remotely by Teams, or a combination. Assessment techniques include question-based practicals on-site, as well as a ‘professional discussion’ by an electronic portfolio of evidence accumulated through the course, and multiple choice tests. Different delivery models, such as block release, can be offered to suit differing needs. Additionally, the College recognises that the employer may have strong relationships with other existing training providers, and is happy to take a ‘consortium’ approach. The College is creating dedicated project teams to ensure co-ordination of the whole journey, from onboarding, through course delivery to end-point assessment.
That end point could be fail, pass, or distinction. Although not every trainee will succeed, Arnold says the College is determined that through College, employer and LEEA working in partnership, every candidate has the opportunity to gain a distinction, while every employer gains, reliably, swiftly and at low cost, the skills and abilities their company needs.
For further information and to sign up, contact ross.moloney@leeaint.com.
Watch the LEEA Apprenticeship website here: https://leeaint.com/presentation/apprenticeship-webinar-december-2021.
More information about the apprenticeship can be found here: www.instituteforapprenticeships.org/apprenticeship-standards/lifting-equipment-technician.
