National Apprenticeship Week – We Must Continue To Support Work‑Based Learning
This National Apprenticeship Week, phs Group’s work‑based learning lead Julie Harries reflects on how apprenticeships have transformed the business, and how proposed changes to funding in Wales could impact young people.
I’ve worked at phs Group for four years, and within my role in work based learning, I’ve seen the impact that a variety of initiatives we offer can make. Whether it’s internships for young people with learning difficulties and or autism, or apprenticeships for those starting, changing, or developing their careers, work based learning can be transformational for those wanting to get on the career ladder, who may not have the capital for years of pre job training.
Across our sites, we currently have 110 people on apprenticeships, and have had 282 in total sign up for apprenticeships. So far, we have had 115 people complete apprenticeships and we have spent around £1.6m of the levy available to us. We have also transferred £50K of the levy with an additional £100,000 allocated to 12 small businesses and charities to help them with training their own staff. Apprenticeships are something we are deeply committed to.
We are currently working on one of our biggest multi site projects with 17 apprentices. Many of these were existing colleagues who wanted to take the next step in their career with some formal training.
Early in 2023 we identified a need to better organise our depot warehouses and stock areas, implementing standardised ways of working to enhance efficiency, reduce waste and to introduce a culture of best practice and continuous improvement.
We identified the 5S workplace organisation methodology as a simple and effective way to introduce these improvements – Sort, Set, Shine, Standardise and Sustain.
Essentially this involves the simple sorting of areas to remove all unnecessary waste, putting things in order by marking out and clearly defining boundaries, shining to clean and clearly mark out usable spaces. This standardising across the network enables consistency and to sustain these enhanced standards through ongoing reviews. The 5S process includes regular auditing and sharing of best practice until it becomes a standard way of working. 5S is embedded within the lean manufacturing and improvement technician apprenticeships.
As an industry leader phs Group strives to set the standard when it comes to business practices and working processes. Through the implementation of 5S workplace organisation we saw an opportunity to develop our colleagues working in these areas by introducing world renowned and tested principles of working. For some this creates a daunting prospect – going back to a ‘learning and testing’ school type environment. However, for our apprentices the work is evidence based within the workplace encompassing regular reviews with an assessor. This makes it ‘real’ and easier to identify with and not just a theory, which is attractive to those already on their career journey.
The resulting qualifications equip them with the knowledge, skills, and behaviours necessary to resolve operational problems, prevent them occurring again, engage others in issues and support the improvement of performance in our depots. Of course, we hope that the apprentices will stay with phs Group and continue to be supported in lifelong learning throughout their career, but either way, the qualifications will put them in good stead to achieve wherever they go.
Our corporate headquarters is based in Caerphilly, and we were recently surprised and concerned to learn of the significant reduction in apprenticeship funding put forward by the Welsh Government.
We understand that apprenticeship funding could be reduced by 24.5%. This is the combination of a 3.65% cut to the budget and the government’s decision not to replace funding previously provided by the European Union. We believe these cuts will result in circa 10,000 fewer apprenticeship starts in Wales in 204/25. This represents a fall of approximately 50%, the most rapid decline in training opportunities since the establishment of the Senedd.
The proposed reductions would fall disproportionately on young people (16 24), those in the lowest socio economic groups, and women. It is also likely that that the cuts would disproportionately affect learners from Black, Asian, and other minority ethnic backgrounds.
We believe there are strong business benefits to the widespread use of apprenticeships. Providing learning opportunities helps us to professionalise our service by enhancing the knowledge, skills and behaviours of our workforce but also helps us to attract and retain the best employees, in what is an extremely competitive jobs market. There is also a wider benefit to society of developing the education and training of working people, especially in transferable key business skills such as business administration, customer service and leadership.
Beyond this, for us as a business, we benefit from attracting individuals from a more diverse pool of people than we would otherwise. This means we have more diverse thinking, more diverse ideas, more diverse problem solving skills – all which hugely benefit our business and are vital to serving our clients.
phs Group puts people at the heart of its products and services, and apprentices are a vital part of the story. We hope we can continue to offer the same level of opportunity to communities throughout Wales.
