Giving Apprentices A Voice

Without the right people with the right skills (at the right time), the UK would never have been able to respond proactively to the virus. Yet despite this, the UK has had a longstanding engineering skills shortage – about 124,000 engineers and technicians a year, according to EngineeringUK – since well before Covid-19. More worryingly, the latest government data shows that 59,000 manufacturing workers lost their jobs between September and November 2020.  

Engineering and manufacturing have always put strong faith in apprenticeships as the way to build the skills pipeline needed to support business resilience, innovation and growth. The pandemic has seriously impacted the number of apprenticeship starts in 2019-20, with only 52,000 people recruited in engineering and manufacturing apprenticeship – 16.1% of all starts.

Given that engineering and manufacturing apprentices will be the people who literally ‘build the future’, we need to listen to what they have to say about their experiences – at Enginuity, we think that doing this during Covid-19 is more important than ever. That’s why this National Apprenticeship Week, we’re appealing to apprentices to complete our latest survey – to have their voices heard and feed their views into our latest Industry Apprentice Council (IAC) report.   

We’ve also been surveying training providers and colleges at regular intervals  during the pandemic, so we already have some preliminary findings as to their ‘lived experience’. Delayed apprentice assessments, difficulties with remote learning and working, some apprentices sadly being made redundant – the pandemic has had a huge impact on apprenticeships in every workplace. This is why we need to hear the other side of the story and understand how apprentices have been affected – because ultimately, the apprentice is the person who matters most when thinking about Covid-19 and apprenticeships.  

It’s not just about getting through Covid-19, of course – we need to build apprenticeships which will be fit for purpose and meet the needs of industrial digitalisation and a greener economy.  

Engineering and manufacturing are changing, with more digital skills needed and with greener, more environmentally conscious ways of working coming increasingly to the fore. The UK has a legally binding target of cutting all emissions to Net Zero by 2050. The apprentice of today may be the senior leaders of tomorrow – so we need to ensure that their apprenticeship is the cornerstone of a successful future.  

To guide them as they build those apprenticeships, those in the corridors of power need to hear what apprentices have to say about their own experiences at this unprecedented time, to shape what happens next. In National Apprenticeship Week, there is no better time for apprentices to have their say.  IAC members have spoken in parliament and previous reports have been quoted in both Houses of Parliament. When apprentices complete the Industry Apprentice Council survey, they can do so knowing that their views will be heard by those who have the power to change things for the better.