The Costs and Benefits of Apprenticeships to Employers: Policy, Funding and Training Quality

Abstract

Historically, the UK has experienced relatively low levels of participation in apprenticeships, especially those at Qualifications and Credit Framework (QCF) level 3 that correspond to the standard commonly trained to in countries such as Germany and Switzerland. This chapter looks at employers’ rationale for investing in Apprenticeships and how this has been influenced by public policy relating to the publicly funded Apprenticeship system. It shows how policy, following the introduction of the publicly funded Apprenticeship system in 1994, was initially balanced in favour of increasing the volume of apprentices but has increasingly moved towards improving the quality of provision. Whether the quality of provision can be increased, and in so doing potentially increase the cost of training to the employer — whilst at the same time maintaining or even increasing the volume of provision, is a moot point.