Apprenticeship starts have dropped from just under 500,000 a year in 2016-17 to under 325,000 in 2020-21, with the group arguing that the NIC increase goes against the government’s plans for levelling up released last week ahead of National Apprenticeship Week which begins today.

The government states that it aims to achieve ‘200,000 more people successfully completing high-quality skills training annually, driven by 80,000 more people completing courses in the lowest skilled areas’.  

However, the FSB says that the increase will only discourage smaller businesses from hiring apprenticeships as the costs directly incurred with taking an apprentice on and the costs indirectly incurred such as funds for recruitment and training will be too much as businesses cash reserves are further depleted. This will then negatively affect young people by reducing their workplace opportunities.