Apprenticeship gap evident in Northern Ireland
Employers in Northern Ireland invest the least in training per employee in the UK, according to new analysis from the Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD).
The CIPD report, Devolution and evolution in UK skills policy: Finding common ground across the four nations states that the average number of days spent training per trainee (5.8 per cent) and the percentage of establishments that have funded any training for staff over the past 12 months (58 per cent) are also lowest in Northern Ireland.
Asserting that there is “considerable scope to expand the system”, the report also finds that Northern Ireland has the lowest rate of apprenticeship participation per thousand people in employment (14 per cent) out of all four UK regions.
The research further highlights that while there have been improvements in the last three years, these have failed to make up for the declines over the last decade, investment in training per employee in Northern Ireland has declined by 21 per cent since 2011, UK investment in training per employee now stands at around half that of the EU average, and, perhaps most worryingly, 58 per cent of Northern Ireland employers provided some sort of training in the last 12 months – a drop from 65 per cent in 2011.
This fall in employer investment in training has occurred despite the number of skills shortage vacancies more than doubling in Northern Ireland in recent years, from 5,372 in 2019 to 13,651 in 2022.
To address skills shortages and boost employer training, the CIPD has set out a range of recommendations for Northern Ireland’s policymakers.
Among them is the introduction of ringfenced funding for Apprenticeship Levy-payers and putting SkillUP on a permanent footing to provide a broader range of skills development opportunities for employers and employees.
Another is the development of interventions to boost management capability and increase understanding of skills needs and development opportunities in small firms.
The CIPD highlights the importance of refocussing the scope of apprenticeship policy to include a discussion on direct financial incentives, alongside a focus on funding off-the-job training costs. For small business in particular, the CIPD asserts, apprentice hiring incentives can make a difference.
Other potentially positive initiatives highlighted by the CIPD include the introduction of fast-track routes to apprenticeship qualifications for adults with existing workplace skills, and that well-resourced and comprehensive careers services need to be a priority, with a focus on impartial advice on the breadth of vocational and academic pathways.
