Labour to reform apprenticeship levy, Angela Rayner tells business leaders
Labour will reform the unpopular apprenticeship levy, Angela Rayner pledged at a key business summit today.
The scheme, which firms have described as a “£3.5bn mistake”, means companies with a payroll of £3m or above have to put aside 0.5 per cent to spend on apprenticeships.
But firms say the rules around training types mean they have missed out on spending vast swathes of the cash, which is scooped up by the Treasury if unused after two years.
The party’s deputy leader told firms at the Confederation of British Industry (CBI) future of work conference that Labour will “start by turning the Tories’ failed apprenticeships levy into a growth and skills levy”.
Rayner said Labour wanted the levy to be “used on the greater range of training courses that businesses tell us they need… so adults can gain new skills and businesses can grow.”
She told firms Labour was “unashamedly pro-worker and pro-business”.
She added: “13 years of economic failure has left businesses and working people out to dry… but our response cannot and will not be a rerun of the 1980s.”
In an interview after her speech, Rayner told the CBI: “People are one of the biggest assets we have in our economy.
“It’s the working people of this country that create the productivity and growth that we need.
“Harnessing their skills and making sure nobody is left behind is fundamental to our target to have the highest sustained growth in the G7.”
Rayner added: “While Labour is pro-worker and pro-business, the Tories are neither – and that’s bad for working people, bad for business, bad for our economy and bad for our country.
“Never again can the Conservative Party credibly claim to be the party of business. Never forget that the labour market pressures you face are down to their decisions.”
Former Downing Street advisor and podcast host Jimmy McLoughlin described Rayner’s speech as passionate and said her remarks, including “profit is a good thing” were “almost unimaginable for a senior Labour front bench member to have said between 2010-2020/22”.
Saqib Bhatti, Conservative party vice chairman, said, however, her words were “yet another empty soundbite from the party that said business is ‘the enemy’”.
He added: “We will take no lessons from a party that has never left office with unemployment lower than when they came to power.. their current ideas would see the economy stall and debt balloon.”
Her comments came the day after the party announced plans to support women with the menopause in the workplace, with Fawcett Society research indicating one in 10 women aged 45-55 left their jobs last year due to symptoms and a lack of support from employers.
Starmer also recently unveiled Labour’s five key missions ahead of the next general election – growth, clean energy, the NHS, crime and opportunity.