Without suitable apprenticeships standards against which to train recruits, the apprenticeship levy is nothing more than a secondary tax on the logistics industry, according to the Freight Transport Association, the business organisation representing the logistics industry.
On the second anniversary of the Apprenticeship Levy 6 April, FTA’s Head of Skills Sally Gilson (right) is concerned that logistics businesses will not be able to fill the skills gaps, with a lack of suitable apprenticeship standards against which to train recruits.
“Despite contributing large sums to the Apprenticeship Levy fund, logistics businesses cannot draw this money down to train the workforce of tomorrow, since the standards against which to train them have yet to be approved.
“With any unused funds due to be taken by the Treasury after two years of payment, this means that the levy is simply an additional tax on those businesses which desperately need to use these moneys to train their future workforce.”
“Gaining approval for logistics apprenticeships with the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education (IfATE) has been difficult over the past two years and, currently, there are no standards applicable to the areas which logistics needs.
“This failure to provide suitable standards against which recruits can be trained essentially means that logistics businesses are being forced to pay a training “tax”, without having the opportunity to utilise any of this money to develop their workforce and fill current vacancies.”