Mike Hawes, SMMT chief executive, said,"The UK automotive industry is built on decades of craftsmanship, engineering excellence and innovation delivered by a highly skilled workforce – and its long-term recovery and growth will depend on retaining and developing this skills base. That's why it's so important that we do everything possible to ensure that we don't let today's challenges hinder our long-term aspirations. Today's apprentices are tomorrow's leaders, and this scheme will help protect their jobs now so that they can help drive our future success."
The scheme comes following the conclusion of the government-funded furlough scheme.
The SMMT Apprentice Support Programme earmarks £100,000 to cover all or part of the salaries of apprentices currently employed by small and medium-sized businesses (SMEs) within the UK automotive industry, but whose positions are at risk of redundancy due to Covid-19 related business pressures.
There are currently some 59,000 young people employed in apprenticeship positions across the sector,1 and they play a vital role in the future growth of businesses throughout the entire automotive supply chain. Investing in skill retention helps secure a pipeline of top talent for the future, ensuring a line of succession and a return on investment for businesses that have already hired apprentices before the pandemic hit. For an industry built on decades of innovation, developing a future generation of experts is crucial for the long-term growth and success of the sector.
Focused particularly on SMEs that are struggling to retain apprentices, the scheme aims to secure existing young talent within their businesses, by covering their salaries either in full or in part for up to a year. The scheme is open to SMMT member companies and, to ensure the sector's commitment to safeguarding these jobs, requires successful applicants to make a contribution towards the full £14,000 apprentice salary2 as business needs permit, in order to unlock a stipend as made available by the SMMT Charitable Trust Fund.
Applicants must be able to:
- Demonstrate that without the funding, the business would be forced to discontinue the apprenticeship.
- Detail how the chosen candidate will add to the long-term success of the business, stipulating their potential prospects and career path beyond the apprenticeship training.
- Submit a personal statement from the chosen candidate as part of the application.
Applications for the SMMT Apprentice Support Programme are open to SMMT member companies from today. To find out more and to apply, visit: SMMT
The deadline for all applications is 12 November 2021.