Agenda item

Summary:

Options considered:

This report provides information on apprenticeships in the council and the use of our Apprenticeship Levy monies.  It specifically asks for consideration to be given to the allocation of £200,000 of reserve monies from the Delivery Plan reserve, to assist Directorates with the funding of apprenticeship salaries. This will enable the Council to continue to grow its apprenticeship offer, investing in the futures of our young people and ensuring that the Council continues to develop and grow the skills that the organisation needs now and in the future, whilst at the same time maximising the use of our levy monies.

Consideration has been given to using current staffing budgets to fund apprenticeship salaries, but this is not feasible in all cases as many Departments do not have the budget available to them to do this.

We have also considered encouraging Managers to always explore the apprenticeship option if a vacancy arises. However in some cases, the level of skills and technical knowledge required to fill a particular vacancy would not always support this.

In both of these examples the number of apprenticeships that we could offer overall would be reduced and we would be less able to support young people in the District into work. 

We do have the opportunity under Apprenticeship Levy rules to transfer out up to 25% of our levy monies to an employer(s) of our choice. However we are a small authority and our levy pot is small (£36,300 pa) Transferring out money would reduce the Council’s opportunity to invest in the skills that it needs for the future, as well as limiting our ability to think more creatively about how we plug our hard to fill vacancies.

Allocating some monies from reserve funds to help support Directorates to recruit apprentices will allow the Council to develop the skills it needs for the future whilst at the same time providing job opportunities for our young people. This would be at a time when their career opportunities have been severely limited and impacted by the Covid pandemic. Allocation of reserves to assist with the funding of apprenticeship salaries has worked successfully in the past and many of our apprentices have gone on to secure permanent employment with the Council.

Conclusions:

This report provides information in regard to apprentices and the Apprenticeship Levy. It provides information on our current situation and makes a recommendation that further reserve monies should be set aside to ensure that the Council can continue to provide opportunities for Apprentices. The current pandemic has directly affected young people’s career opportunities. This will provide an opportunity for us to invest in the futures of our young people in the District as well as providing the Council with a key resource for the future, building the skills and knowledge that we will need, helping to recruit into hard to fill vacancies and assisting with succession planning.           

Recommendations:

Reasons for

Recommendations:

It is recommended that Cabinet sets aside a contribution of £200,000 to assist with the funding of apprentices salaries. This contribution should be allocated from the Delivery Plan Reserve.

The release of the reserve monies will allow the Council to continue to grow our apprenticeship offer, investing in the futures of the young people in the district and will also ensure that the Council is developing the skills and talent that it needs now and in the future.

Cabinet Member(s)

Sarah Butikofer

Ward(s) affected

All