Industry leaders have called for a “reform” of the Apprenticeship Levy during a debate on how to harness the skills of people in the North.

In a discussion at the Great Northern Conference, Sarah Lane, managing director of Tees Components, said: “We desperately need more flexibility, we need a reform of the Apprenticeship Levy.

“I think it is more difficult now than it has ever been [to get funding for apprenticeships]. There are so many obstacles for employers to be able to start engaging with apprenticeships or traineeships. The funding streams are so complicated with the qualifications and they change all the time.”

The Apprenticeship Levy requires employers with a payroll of over £3m to pay 0.5 per cent of their payroll into a fund which they can then apply to use to reinvest in apprenticeship training. However, it was revealed in February that £3.5bn of the funding paid into the pot had expired due to employers not being able to meet the requirements needed to draw on the money.

The Great Northern Conference 2023 - Bradford City Hall, Bradford, England - A general view of the Skill Pledge Plenary with the panel of Professor Kieran Fernandes, Sharon Lane, Darren Hankey & Andy Sharples.

Sellafield, one of the biggest private sector employers in Cumbria, employed over 815 apprentices in 2023. The company’s projects director, Andy Sharples, said: “Sellafield has invested over 10,500 apprenticeships. Without that continual investment where the site is in West Cumbria, it’s very difficult to attract people even from Greater Manchester, Liverpool or Yorkshire because it’s still a good journey.

“You’ve got to connect and you’ve got to invest but to do that you’ve got to have certainty of pipeline and you’ve got to have your sponsors, your stakeholders and your local community tied into what you’re doing. It’s about investing to a plan.”

Darren Hankey, principal and chief executive of Hartlepool College of Further Education, added: “In the Tees Valley we are talking about one in five employees that take on apprentices and I would love it if we were in the Tees Valley talking about one in five firms that don’t take on apprentices instead.”

Professor Kieran Fernandes, who is the Associate Pro Vice-Chancellor and Professor of Operations Management at Durham University Business School, told the debate of the need for a collective approach to address the unique challenges of the future job market.

He said: “80 per cent of the jobs that will exist in 2050 are jobs that don’t exist and those jobs will need technologies that are not yet invented to solve problems that we still don’t think are problems.

"So in a very short period of time we have a huge challenge collectively which we need to address. We need a coherent vision which brings both businesses economic skills and citizens together.

“It needs to bring together citizens, policymakers, businesses and universities.”

Apprenticeship Levy reform 'desperately needed', pleads Tees Components boss