Made in London survey aimed at understanding the perception of Apprenticeships within the manufacturing sector in London

Made in London carried out this research during November and December 2004 in an attempt to understand the reasons apprenticeship uptake in the manufacturing sector wasn't growing - was it because suitable training courses weren't available, colleges were too far away, costs of employing an apprentice were too high, the risk of the apprentice leaving or not finishing the course were too high?  The survey was intended to act as a guide to future research which can be conducted in this field and findings are as follows:

90% of people surveyed were aware of Apprenticeships but of those who had not had an apprentice already only 10% felt they knew how to go about employing one.

After some discussion with manufacturers it is felt that most would be perfectly capable of finding out about Apprenticeships themselves but the reason they had not is because they did not see what benefits they could gain by doing so and therefore did not want to spend the time.

About 50% of respondents had not employed an apprentice in the past but regardless of prior experiences nearly all of those surveyed (90%) would be interested in employing an apprentice in the future.

At first glance this seems to disagree with the previous statement that many manufacturers couldn’t see the benefits of employing an apprentice but in fact what they felt was that right now they couldn’t see the benefits of employing an apprentice but in the future they hoped they would be able to – this is linked to the current economic climate within manufacturing and a hope for future recovery.

Of those respondents who had employed an apprentice in the past 85% felt the apprentice was valuable to their business.  The reasons given for the importance of apprenticeships are as follows:

Apprenticeships are necessary to pass on skills from one generation to another and keep the industry alive

Experience gained by the apprentice is good and relevant and therefore gives the apprentice career options

Apprenticeships give many young people an invaluable chance to finish their education especially those young people who are not academic

SME’s gain an employee who is dedicated and shows initiative

All manufacturers surveyed expected apprentices to have basic numeracy and literacy skills and a small number suggested that an apprentice with prior work experience would be an advantage.  Most respondents (75%) felt that the apprentices they had either interviewed or employed had the basic skills necessary to do the job, but 10% did state that the poor attitude of the young person meant the apprenticeship ended prematurely either by mutual consent or the apprentice had “disappeared”.  Of the 25% who said that the basic skills were inadequate all said that this was not the fault of the apprentice but the basic skills were too basic e.g. one sign manufacturer said that every apprentice he had ever had (x3 in total) had been unable to calculate the area of a square of sheet metal but if the square was drawn on a piece of paper he was able to do it and what was missing was the ability to put classroom skills into practice. 

The requirement for basic numeracy and literacy skills only, tended to be in the more traditional manufacturing businesses e.g. electronics, metal fabricators, plastics and other polymers and printing where the apprentice would be working on the factory floor.  In businesses where prior work experience was considered advantageous the apprentice would be office based and the managers’ past experience of poor time keeping and an inability to prioritise by apprentices meant they wanted more of a new starter. 

Industries where apprentices would be working with valuable materials e.g. jewellery, engraving, tailoring the businesses requested that the apprentices be skilled in pattern cutting, tool handling, had attended a cordwainers course etc before they arrive.  This is because many of these businesses were small in size i.e. 1-2 people and they didn’t have the time to teach these basics to the apprentice and didn’t want to let the apprentice “loose” on valuable materials without this basic knowledge because errors are extremely costly.

While the jewellery sector (Hatton Garden) and tailoring (Saville Row) were cautious about employing an apprentice they were extremely keen to do so.  It was these sectors along with furniture manufacture which were the most keen to point out the necessity for their skills to be passed on to future generations so their industry didn’t die out.  50% of manufacturers spoken to in tailoring and bespoke handmade shoes requested that apprentices be older and more mature and the suggested optimum age ranged from 28 to 35, no other industries surveyed comments on age.

Of those manufacturers who had never employed an apprentice before 70% felt that the level of bureaucracy involved would be a barrier.  Of those manufacturers who had employed an apprentice before only 20% felt the level of bureaucracy was too high. 

The level of funding available for manufacturers to take on an apprentice was felt to be too low in small businesses whereas medium and larger businesses did not consider this a problem.  In fact small businesses cited funding and the cost of an apprentice to be the main reason they could not take one on.   

Future Research

1)      Research to understand which types of apprenticeships are required by each manufacturing sector e.g. there is thought to be no apprenticeship courses available currently which would be suitable for the jewellery sector.

2)      Research to understand better the barriers facing uptake of apprentices in small businesses.  Barriers in this survey were cited as inadequate funding, the low or inappropriate level of basic skills of the apprentice and the risk of the apprentice leaving soon after training is complete - this is a much greater problem for small businesses than large ones who can absorb the investment.

3)      Where external training took place the college location was shown in this survey to be on average 2-5 miles away from the location of the business.  This survey did not have the scope to understand whether this distance had any negative effects on the business and productivity of the apprentice.

Nicola Le Page,
Campaigns Manager
Made in London     
DDI - 020 7203 1958
Email - nlepage@londonchamber.co.uk