This project from New College Durham is intended to support Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) to develop their awareness and understanding of the requirements of apprenticeships, explain the benefits of employing apprentices and support them through journey and the early stages of employing an apprentice.
The objective is to identify, engage and support SMEs who have not had an apprenticeship in the past two years, to access, support and offer high quality apprenticeships. The focus will include raising initial awareness and engagement activity. The project is seeking to test a variety of innovative approaches so that we can better understand what works well to shape future engagement activity with SMEs.
Unengaged SMEs are defined as having been trading for at least 12 months and have either never engaged with the apprenticeship service or have not done so in the preceding 24 months.
The project will test the delivery of these approaches in a 2-year pathfinder in the North West, North East and Yorkshire and the Humber, by using intermediaries to support SMEs in these areas, focused on Digital, Manufacturing, Adult Social Care and Construction sectors.
The regions selected for the project have a high prevalence of deprived and ‘low skilled areas’, as identified in the technical annex to the government’s recent White Paper, Levelling Up the United Kingdom. Apprenticeship starts in SMEs in these regions have fallen in recent years.
For futher information contact Natasha Francis, Head of Apprenticeships [email protected], 0191 375 4146.
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