Apprentice Redundancy

JACKSONCAZ · 6 June 2018 at 10:25PM

HI

im not sure if this is the right place to ask, but please point me in the right direction if it isnt

I am looking for some advice regarding making an apprentice redundant.

my daughter is 23 and she has been employed as a apprentice for a local company for the last 13 months, during this time she has worked exceptionally hard, she has worked extra hours and she has worked the same role as a full time member of staff. I have questioned her about this but she always said she is looking to prove she is worth investing in and wanted a full time job at the end of her apprenticeship.... fast forwards to now and she has just been made redundant ( although they have said it isn't redundancy it is termination of her contract and that they will not be renewing it - on the grounds of financially stability, and that they are not in a position to continue her employment - I will also add they made 9 other apprentices redundant as well as 8 full time members of staff ).

following this redundancy I have asked her where she is at with her learning and qualification and she has advied me that in the last 12 months she has not done any work, she has always been working her job and was assured she would so the qualifcaiton at the end, she had two weeks at the end March to do some work from home and she has shown me her report which shows she has only done 20% of her qualification.

I want to know where she stands in terms of rights - if she has any ? she has worked for £3.85 ( I think that's the minimum wage for an apprentice ) for the last 13 months and she has worked full time, extra hours and had no real training, she has been made redundant or should I say been told her contract has ended. |This feels like a whole year of her life with minimum pay and no qualification.

I will add that she was given a £400 bonus a month for the last 6 months as a thank you for the extra work she has done, however to me she has still only been paid £10,500 for a years work, and received nothing for this in terms of qualifications.

there is a lot of grey areas , anyone able to help ?

McKneff · 6 June 2018 at 11:21PM

What was the apprenticeship doing.

Dont think there is much she can do tbh.

Tell her to ring ACAS and ask.

She should ring, at 23 she is an adult. And youre doing her no favours.by doing this for her,. Its part of life learnibg curve

[Deleted User] · 6 June 2018 at 11:59PM

Should speak to the Training Provider. Least she can't get suckered into doing another apprenticeship?! Good luck to her for getting a 'proper' job. That's one way to rise above it and go get revenge - hope she does well for herself.

I was the other way! At 17 and in my first job redundancy loomed at the 9 months of being there, a week's notice and holiday paid, the job paid £125 weekly, it was a proper job, I still remember Dad taking me into a job centre and them saying I couldn't sign until I was 18 unless my parents were prepared to kick me out, whether I'd been made redundant or not! after proper job ended and just before my 18th birthday all I could do was to get one of those £45 a week day release to college apprenticeships for 'Business Admin' (which I never completed in the end...and actually done me no real harm, even went to a 'real' job interview whilst there for lots of money at the time at 8.5k!!!! oh my days!) but that was nearly 20 years ago.

I got to 36 and 'steady' just over 18k eventually

though I hear that is poor money to the youngsters of today.

Don't let her get down about this redundancy will you.

marlot · 7 June 2018 at 6:28AM

I make sure my apprentices get 20% of their time for studying - typically a Friday.

I believe this employer has broken their training agreement. But I'm not sure what can be done now. First step is talking with her training provider.

Masomnia · 7 June 2018 at 8:47PM

Worth looking at what the apprenticeship agreement says, if there is one.

If she isn't employed under a proper apprenticeship agreement and is an apprentice under common law then she could bring a breach of contract claim. It's unlikely but it does happen.

NBLondon · 8 June 2018 at 9:08AM

marlot wrote: »

I make sure my apprentices get 20% of their time for studying - typically a Friday.

I believe this employer has broken their training agreement. But I'm not sure what can be done now. First step is talking with her training provider.

Well the 20% is a requirement of the funding for a start... If this has not been happening for over a year and she has done no study then it looks very much like the employer called her an apprentice simply as a way of paying the Apprentice NMW instead of the adult rate. Alarm bells should have rung at the 3 month point. But its quite understandable for someone to concentrate on the possibility of a full-time job and not rock the boat. She needs to look at the apprenticeship agreement and the contract - it's acceptable for an apprenticeship contract of employment to be fixed-term for the life of the apprenticeship and not be renewed. But in this case - the employer appears not to have upheld the apprenticeship element. Given they have dumped other people too and appear to have cashflow problems - I'm wondering if this was a small start-up growing too fast.

The Training Provider should also have noticed - they have been presumably taking payment and not delivering the service. If they are decent - they will try and help the apprentice into a new position to complete the learning. If they are dodgy - they may be no help at all.

JACKSONCAZ · 8 June 2018 at 8:01PM

Yes she is an adult and I am seeking advice to actually give her advice on where the go ...

JACKSONCAZ · 8 June 2018 at 8:03PM

Thank you

Funny enough her provider is her own company so no external company :-(

NBLondon · 12 June 2018 at 10:01AM

So either an Employer-Provider - a company big enough to run their own apprenticeship scheme or a Training Provider who trains some of their own apprentices. Either way they would have had to go through checks by the ESFA (govt agency providing funding) to get that status. So probably not a start-up. Therefore the company is in trouble and you'd better get some legal advice quickly while there is still a company to sue!

Thought: Look them up here https://roatp.apprenticeships.sfa.bis.gov.uk/download on the register of Apprenticeship Providers. If they are not on the list there never was an apprenticeship and daughter has been conned and employed at below NMW. Get a solicitor quick.

Captain89 · 12 June 2018 at 11:14AM

It's really down to the apprentice to take an active role in their apprenticeship. She should have had an assessor who would see her at least once every 8 weeks to assess her, set new work, check how things are going etc. Have you spoken to her assessor?

If she has no assessor then I can understand how this has happened( I work for a provider and have seen this before) How long was her apprenticeship? Is she out of funding now? Can the provide find her a new placement to complete the work she needs to get the qualification? There are the types of questions you need to ask before you can really help her.

NBLondon · 12 June 2018 at 3:22PM

Hang on Captain - the Employer is also the Provider. So the Assessor was probably the line manager. Being told she would do all the work at the end is a warning signal to us (or confusion about the End Point Assessment) but maybe not so if the Employer was spouting bovine excrement. So OP's daughter may not have realised she was being taken for a ride (or decided to ignore it as she wanted the permanent job more than the qualification).

Apprentice Redundancy

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