Apprenticeships to see reduction in red tape

13 August 2008

The administrative burdens of taking on apprentices are to be cut, the government has announced.

John Denham, the Skills Secretary, has said that a raft of bureaucratic requirements involved in running apprenticeships are to be scrapped.

Among those requirements to go are rules insisting employers keep paperwork for up to six years, multiple inspection visits and the need for monthly reporting.

The government is concerned that red tape is preventing some smaller employers from offering apprenticeships.

Other changes will see a simplified registration process, faster confirmation that apprentices have completed their programmes and a streamlining of payment systems.

Mr Denham said: “Employers tell us that if we are to meet our ambitious aims to expand the number of apprenticeships, we need to cut the red tape around the programme.

“There is no reason why firms should have to deal with multiple copies of time-consuming paperwork, provide the same information to several different agencies, be expected to invoice government more often than is necessary, or have to undergo complex inspection requirements when they already have perfectly adequate systems of their own.”

The minister added: “The practical measures we have agreed will enable more employers to meet their present and future skills needs, unimpeded by time-consuming administration.”

Sally Low, director of policy at the British Chambers of Commerce, urged the government to make good on its commitments.

Ms Low said: “This is not the first time we’ve heard the government announce plans to cut the bureaucracy burden of apprenticeships. For years businesses have made it abundantly clear that they find the paperwork associated with taking on apprentices a real barrier.

“Ministers have had plenty of time to listen to these issues and yet very little has changed. What we would now like to see is the Government actually delivering on its promises.”