Apprentice pay

Apprentice pay might not be top of everyone’s agenda as we head towards a general election, but making sure apprentices get a decent wage is an important way of guaranteeing a bit more fairness for young people. So it’s great that government has agreed that all employed apprentices will be entitled to a minimum wage of £2.50 an hour from October. This single rate will replace a series of complex arrangements where some apprentices in England were paid a minimum £95 a week, but there was no minimum pay level for apprentices in Wales, Scotland and Northern Ireland.

ippr carried out some research with apprentices last summer and we met many apprentices doing hard and menial work four or five days a week for £95 a week, or less – in Belfast, we found hairdressing apprentices earning just £60 for a five-day week. Our research found that low apprentice pay was often linked to poor quality training and was a particular problem for young women in sectors like hairdressing and social care.

The apprentices we spoke to didn’t expect to be paid the same as friends working in call centres or offices, or more experienced colleagues. But they did expect a fair deal in return for their passion, commitment and growing skills.

The rate of £2.50 an hour can be criticised as being too low – apprentices will have to work at least 38 hours a week to earn the equivalent of the £95 weekly rate currently in place in England. Given the problems with youth unemployment at the moment and the difficulty in convincing some employers to take on apprentices, the £2.50 rate was probably the most that the Commission thought it could recommend.

But the move creates a framework for apprentices of all ages to receive an hourly, legal minimum wage, which is reviewed annually by the independent Low Pay Commission - and a rate that can be built on in future.

Kayte Lawton, research fellow, ippr