Joinery firm halts apprentice programme over skills reforms

Staircase and door producer Stairways Midlands has been been pressured into motion by controversial plans from Expertise England to slash the period of carpentry and joinery apprenticeships from 25 months to round eight.

Different strikes embody altering ultimate trainee assessments to permit organisations to “pattern” solely a portion of the information, expertise and behaviours standards to find out an apprentice’s competence – relatively than requiring them to show they meet all of them.

Stairways Midlands stated the shift would create a “race to the underside” in coaching high quality.

The agency operates three Midlands-based manufacturing facility items and was in a profitable partnership with Walsall Faculty coaching Stage 2 Bench Carpentry and Joinery Apprentices yearly.

Joint Managing Director Karen Wooden Joint Managing Director – who can also be a Go Assemble STEM Ambassador – stated the corporate had “no selection” however to withdraw the supply of apprenticeship placements this yr.

She stated: “Apprenticeships have all the time been a cornerstone of our enterprise and a significant pipeline for expert expertise. We’ve proudly educated dozens of apprentices over time – together with a number of who’ve gone into administration roles right here – however underneath these new proposals, the mannequin is solely not match for function.

“Lowering coaching time to only eight months and eradicating thorough unbiased evaluation exhibits a basic lack of appreciation for the vary of expertise and depth of information it takes to do that work, and can set the business again years.

“We’ve had no selection however to pause our apprenticeship consumption for the primary time in additional than twenty years. It’s deeply irritating, however we can not in good conscience help a reformed system that appears to prioritise velocity and value over competence and security.”

Commerce physique the British Woodworking Federation (BWF) has written to the Prime Minister calling for a direct suspension of the plans.

Wooden added: “We want correctly educated, competent folks coming into our business. Quick-term coverage choices like this not solely devalue the onerous work of apprentices and trainers however undermine the tradition of security and excellence that the development sector has labored so onerous to construct.

“The BWF has been clear that the reforms as they stand are usually not supported by the business. We stand with them and others in calling for a rethink that places high quality, competence and security first.”