// Trade bodies for retail have written to the government for urgent reform to the apprenticeship levy system
// The letter comes after the UK’s high streets lose out on £3.5bn in unused funds
Retail trade bodies have written to the government for urgent reform to the apprenticeship levy system, as the high street loses out on £3.5bn in unused funds.
Signatories from the BRC, UKHospitality, TechUK and the Recruitment & Employment Confederation (REC), have accused the government of “holding back investment” in training.
They said billions of pounds worth of funding has expired under its restrictive use-it-or-lose-it scheme.
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The letter also said that the training required to develop future workforces, increase wages and boost productivity and economic growth had been affected as a result
Under the current system, businesses are required to contribute hundreds of millions to the fund but can only spend these funds in a restricted manner – for example, businesses cannot use the money to fund any courses that are shorter than one year in duration.
This has resulted in £3.5bn of potential investment going unused at a time when businesses could benefit from training.
The signatories have urged the government to widen the apprenticeship levy into a broader “skills levy”, which will allow firms to spend the funds on a ”wider range of high-quality, accredited courses including shorter, more targeted courses or more tailored upskilling programmes, including functional and digital skills”.
BRC chief executive, Helen Dickinson said: “The government must urgently fix this £3.5bn mistake or it risks letting the UK’s anaemic productivity trail further behind its international counterparts.
“Retailers want to invest more in training a higher-skilled, more productive and better-paid workforce. They want to create more opportunities for people up and down the country.
“They want to contribute more to growth. But the broken apprenticeship system is a ball and chain around their efforts. Without reforms to the levy, retail will not be able to turbo-boost equipping its workforce for the future.”
