Nhf members apprehensive about apprenticeship reforms

Hairdressing salons have expressed deep concern about proposed changes to the funding of apprenticeships, warning plans to force small businesses to pay a proportion of training costs and bear the burden of administering training money are unworkable as they stand, claims the National Hairdressers’ Federation. Government proposals to impose a compulsory contribution on salons that take on apprentices will simply stop the recruitment of apprentices in its tracks or mean salons having to cut the wages of permanent staff, members of the NHF have warned. Earlier this year the Department for Business, Innovation and Skills decided employers, rather than training providers, should take direct control of apprenticeship funding once new training structures launch next year, and in March launched a short consultation to gather views on how this might work. This consultation closes on May 1 and, as part of its submission, the NHF polled more than 400 members for their views. This found almost unanimous opposition, with salons strongly urging the government to rethink its decision to hand over funding to employers. For small businesses the extra bureaucracy and red tape resulting from having to administer and manage this money would be onerous and time-consuming, NHF members feared. The idea of an employer cash contribution towards the cost of training and assessment was a particular bone of contention, and the lack of any detail as to what level this contribution is likely to be set at is a major worry. NHF chief executive Hilary Hall said: “The government’s parallel reforms to create more employer-led apprenticeships, with hairdressers already acting as “trailblazer” employers, are positive.  Hairdressing is consistently in the top 10 most popular apprenticeships each year – so it’s important to get the standards right, both for young people and employers.” But, against the backdrop of tough competition on the high street, the minimum wage rising from this autumn and extra costs expected from pensions auto-enrolment, the proposed funding reforms risks undoing all the good work achieved so far. “We run the risk of derailing a new, better apprenticeship system by imposing unwelcome and unnecessary changes to the funding models. The additional costs and extra administrative burden of these new proposals will reduce the number of salons prepared to take on apprentices – the exact opposite of what the government is looking to achieve,” she said. Commenting on the findings Hellen Ward, director of Richard Ward Hair & Metrospa, who is heading up the apprenticeship trailblazing initiative on behalf of the hairdressing industry, said: “It’s great to have so many employers enthusiastically working on the new hair and beauty apprenticeship standards, and chairing the hairdressing Trailblazers has been hard but rewarding work.  We are really looking forward to everyone from the industry completing our forthcoming survey so we can get some input and feedback on the work done so far. This is your chance to have your say and we will be listening to everyone! “The last thing we would ever want is for the number of apprenticeships to go down because employers are put off by these potentially additional, and as yet unknown compulsory contributions towards external training and assessment.  We should remember though  that current proposals suggest the government will provide an additional one-off payment  to employers towards the cost of training 16 to 17 year olds after they have completed three months of their apprenticeship and there may be additional financial support for small employers. “Employers already pay their apprentices and as well as wages there are all the hidden costs to salons of their training and supervising by seniors, like time off the productive salon floor.  And the extra administrative work and red tape involved in negotiating prices with training providers, claiming funding, and the complexity of working out PAYE contributions won’t be welcome for many smaller employers, especially as our sector is largely made up of a large proportion of micro-businesses but is a huge employer - some 16,000 - of apprentices. “I’m keen to see the finite decisions on what will happen from the government so we can ascertain the impact it will have on the industry as a whole – it seems nothing is set in stone yet as it is still at consultation stage but we’re right to be concerned as changes will surely impact us more than other, even larger sectors who traditionally employee less apprentices than we do. There isn’t much clarity at present, but once the mechanics of how this might work are confirmed, we should be vocal if we think this initiative will have any negative effects to our employers which may in turn affect the future of our industry long term.”