Liverpool Chamber of Commerce CEO Jack Stopforth urges local action to help young people

YOUTH unemployment is a criminal waste of resources that blights young people’s lives and corrodes society.

Yet, unlike so many other macroeconomic problems like inflation or commodity prices, the worst consequences of youth unemployment are easily addressable through local action.

In 2012, employers of all types and size of business in the Liverpool city region can benefit from taking on apprentices without the responsibility of actually employing them during training.

A new Community Interest Company has been created by Liverpool Chamber of Commerce, Liverpool City Council and Liverpool Community College.

Trading as Liverpool Futures, the new venture is an Apprentice Training Association, or ATA, which will employ the trainees and assume all the responsibilities associated with employing people – from paying sick pay and agreeing holiday entitlement to dealing with disciplinary issues and behaviours.

The host business will pay the trainee an agreed wage and be expected to exercise due care and attention and observe statutory health and safety regulations when the apprentices are on their premises, but the many legal and regulatory requirements around employment that can sometimes inhibit smaller businesses, especially, from recruiting staff will be the responsibility of the ATA, not the host organisation.

For young people aged 16 to 18, the full cost of relevant training, customised as far as possible to the employers’ needs and professionally delivered by fully-accredited training providers, will be met by the Government and administered by Liverpool Futures.

Training will be geared to the needs of the business, as well as benefiting the trainee.

Apprentices aged 19 or older will also have a significant portion of their training costs met, and this applies not only to newly recruited trainees, but to already-employed staff who might benefit from specialised training or a higher level apprenticeship.

If an employer has a particular training provider in mind for the approved apprenticeship framework, then, so long as the ATA is satisfied with their credentials, they can deliver the course.

If no provider is proposed, the ATA will broker an appropriate trainer.

Naturally, we aim to generate long- term employment for apprentices, and the host is able to make an offer of employment at any stage, but is under no obligation to do so.

If the host business’s circumstances change mid-training, it will be the ATA, as the employer, that will take the responsibility of finding another organisation to enable the trainee to complete his or her qualifications with no penalty to the original host business.

In short, we aim to make it easy for businesses, public agencies and charities to offer places to our apprentices while ensuring that the trainees are well looked after and not exploited.

The flexibility of the ATA model is its strength, because it provides the trainee with secure employment with Liverpool Futures, while, at the same time, enabling host employers to benefit from having an apprentice.

And there is plenty of empirical research to suggest that businesses who use apprentices fare better than other businesses.

Liverpool Futures is a joint venture in which Liverpool Chamber of Commerce is the majority shareholder, supported by Liverpool City Council and the Community College, as well as other partners, such as the well- regarded Eldonians. Potential trainees will be interviewed by the ATA and coached in the interpersonal skills needed in the workplace.

Our aim is to work with unemployed people from across the city, but to ensure that host companies interview young people who are, effectively, work-ready.

The apprenticeships on offer cover a wide range of disciplines and are work-based, not classroom-based. They’re designed by the Sector Skills Councils and reflect the real world of work, not a civil servant’s idea of what training business needs.

Courses are geared to the needs of the host organisation and lead to the award of nationally-recognised qualifications.

Depending on the sector and the job description, apprenticeships can last between one year and four years.

Around 80% of businesses with apprentices believe they improve productivity, and more than 80% of consumers, when interviewed, said they would be happier buying from businesses who utilise apprenticeships.

Some of the best businesses in the country are committed to the National Apprenticeship Service, and many see the scheme as their principal route for replacing future skills.

There are many inspirational examples on the National Apprentice Service’s website.

This is a city that has been bucking the national trends for most of the past four years.

The huge economic impetus generated in the build-up to our year as European Capital of Culture, in 2008, carried us through the worst of the credit crunch-induced recession and we continue to generate success in sectors like advanced manufacturing, green energy, bio-medicine, retail and tourism.

By working together on youth unemployment, we can continue bucking the national trend and mitigate at least some of the awful social consequences of writing off a generation of young people, as we did in the 1980s.

Businesses and other employers should contact Liverpool Chamber of Commerce to find out more about Liverpool Futures and how to benefit from the enthusiasm of its staff and the young people looking for a chance to shine.