Overview
In his summer Budget, the Chancellor, Rishi Sunak, announced that in order to get more young people ready for the job market, for the first time ever, the government would pay employers £1,000 to take on new trainees, with the aim of tripling the number of level 2 and level 3 courses.
A traineeship is a skills development programme that includes a work placement. It can last from 6 weeks up to 6 months.
Traineeships help 16 to 24 year olds – or 25 year olds with an education, health and care (EHC) plan – get ready for an apprenticeship or job if they don’t have the appropriate skills or experience.
Benefits to employers
A traineeship:
- is flexible, can be sector focused and is funded by the government
- gives your current employees experience in training and mentoring
- allows you to design a programme that suits both the needs of your business and the needs of the trainee
- can help you increase capacity and productivity
- can help you develop a loyal and talented workforce
- allows you to help tackle youth unemployment
- is a route into an apprenticeship
- allows you to get to know and work with young people prior to recruiting apprentices
Employers who make new work placement opportunities available may also receive an incentive payment of £1000 per learner, for up to 10 learners. More government guidance will follow on this new incentive next month.
Your responsibilities
When offering a traineeship work placement you need to provide:
- safe, meaningful and high-quality work experience
- a minimum of 70 hours of work experience – but no more than 240 hours for benefit claimants over the duration of the traineeship (maximum of one year) and as agreed with the traineeship provider
- constructive feedback and advice to the trainee
- an interview for an apprenticeship or job in your business at the end of the traineeship if one is available
- an exit interview at the end of the traineeship with meaningful written feedback if no job is available
The traineeship is free to your business, but you may support trainees with expenses such as transport and meals.
How to get started
If you are interested in developing a traineeship programme then your first step is to decide on a training provider. This will be the organisation responsible for helping you develop a programme that suits your needs, matching you with trainees and providing work preparation training.
Together, you can start to plan elements like which roles you want to develop, when you want trainees to start and what days they will be with you. The programme is not set in stone and it can be changed and adapted to make sure everyone is getting the most out of it.
Designing the programme
The training provider will assess the needs of the trainee. Trainees may need pre-employment training before starting work experience.
You and the provider will then plan and agree:
- the days the trainee works
- how the programme will be delivered
Traineeships are flexible. You can adjust the programme as you go to make sure you and the trainee get the most out of it.
After the programme
You should:
- offer the trainee an interview at the end of the programme if a job or an apprenticeship is available in your business
- provide an exit interview with meaningful written feedback if no job or apprenticeship is available
SRC-Time are one of the South East’s leading accountancy firms in advising the self-employed and partnerships in all aspects of their tax affairs and we are able to assist in any issue raised above.
Our expert team is available to provide you with advice and can be contacted on 01273 326 556 or you can drop us an email at info@src-time.co.uk or speak with an account manager to get any process started.
