Leading UK children’s charity calls for 20,000 apprenticeships to be earmarked for care leavers

Care leavers’ route to a successful career and financial independence lies in the apprenticeship system, according to Barnardo’s, a children’s charity dedicated to transforming the lives of the UK’s most vulnerable young people.

Around 10,000 youngsters aged between 16 and 18 leave care in England every year. The gap between their educational achievements and those of their peers is significant, and a disproportionate number, when compared to their contemporaries, find their way into the criminal justice system. 

In his July Budget, the UK’s finance minister George Osborne pledged the creation of three million new apprenticeships by 2020, to be funded by a tax on large firms. Barnado’s would like to see 20,000 of these reserved for care leavers in order to redress some of the inequalities they face.

Javed Khan, Barnardo’s chief executive, argues that “[g]etting an apprenticeship and proving themselves in work can open up the door to a successful career instead of a dependence on benefits.”

The Department for Education agrees, noting that a good apprenticeship can help support a successful transition to adulthood for those leaving care.

Werner Eichhorst has written for IZA World of Labor about how vocational training can ease youth unemployment in general. He argues that: “If tailored to the needs of employers and the labor market, dual vocational education and structured on-the-job learning programs can smooth entry into the labor market for young people compared with an academic high school education alone.”

Hiring apprentices can bring huge benefits to both candidates and businesses, according to Robert Lerman, who feels that greater awareness of these benefits is the key to increasing participation.

He observes that the apprentice’s contribution to production is often large enough to offset the added costs, adding that retaining apprentices can also lower a firm’s recruitment and training costs. His research shows that boosting the number of apprenticeship schemes alone can significantly help to lower youth unemployment.

More can be read on this story here.

Related articles:

Does vocational training help young people find a (good) job?, by Werner Eichhorst

Do firms benefit from apprenticeship investments?, by Robert Lerman

Find more IZA World of Labor articles on education and human capital here.