Reform’s apprenticeship package announced

Reform UK has unveiled a new apprenticeship package aimed at reversing the decline in vocational training, tackling youth unemployment and reducing Britain’s reliance on cheap imported labour.

Announcing the policy at a press conference on 20th August, Reform UK Shadow Education Secretary Suella Braverman said the country faced a “NEET crisis”, with more than one million young people not in education, employment or training.

“It’s a travesty and, quite frankly, a betrayal of the next generation”, she said.

Braverman criticised the “great university scam”, warning that too many young people were being encouraged to take on up to £50,000 of debt for “pointless subjects at mediocre universities”.

“The Blairite obsession with sending 50% of our young people into universities has left a generation of young people trapped by debt”, she said, adding that it had also left Britain’s labour market “depleted and reliant on cheap foreign labour”.

Under Reform’s Apprenticeship Wage Credit, small and medium-sized firms hiring a young apprentice would receive a payment worth 30% of their wages – saving the average employer more than £8,000.

A further £2,000 tax-free Apprenticeship Retention Bonus would go directly to apprentices who remain with the business that trained them for at least two years after completing their course.

“Combined, this is over £10,000 that a Reform UK government is willing to put into each apprentice at the start of their working lives”, Braverman said.

Reform UK Deputy Leader Richard Tice said the fall in apprenticeships among 16- to 18-year-olds – from around 40% to 20% in the last seven or eight years – was “nothing short of a scandal”.

“We are 120% focused on making sure we’ve got the right apprenticeship schemes [and] the right opportunities for young people”, he said. “The option of going to work in a trade as an apprentice is a fantastic one.”

“If you want to work hard, if you want to move forward, earn a wage and have opportunities in your life, take up and look for apprenticeships”, Braverman said. “A Reform UK government will ensure that those opportunities exist.”

Watch the full press conference here.