3aaa Apprenticeship
Monday 17th September 2018
On Wednesday 12th September, we hosted our latest Apprenticeship Levy Conference at the Emirates Stadium, and the day proved to be a huge success, with delegates enjoying key industry updates, valuable networking opportunities and guest speakers who shared their experiences of the Levy so far.
One of the main reasons guests found the event so valuable was the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea (RBKC) presenting their Levy journey and sharing their experiences and best practice, giving guests an insight into the challenges that similar organisations are facing and how they are overcoming them.
Fabiola Palermo, Project Officer for Apprenticeships and NGDP at the RBKC spoke to guests about how they approached the Levy, their initial challenges and how they have made the reforms work for them and truly embedded Apprenticeships into their talent and development strategy.
Members of the team at the RBKC initially came together to discuss the potential challenges and benefits of investing in Apprenticeships, creating the ‘Think Apprenticeships’ initiative and engrained this within the core of the organisation. They had a range of challenges from the offset, both internally and externally, ensuring that their employees fully understood Apprenticeships and also dealing with the budget reductions within local government. Despite these challenges, RBKC has become a thought leader within the public sector and pushed forward with this exciting initiative.
With no previous experience of Apprenticeships within the organisation, RBKC decided that the time was right to invest in Apprenticeships in correlation with the Levy, with the aim of utilising their Levy funds in conjunction with employee’s annual appraisals, focusing on personal development and career progression. They were keen as an organisation to grant staff the ability to develop their career, whilst working in the same role, also ensuring that succession planning was at the forefront of their thinking.
The council is currently utilising their Levy funds through a range of programmes in different departments, with a large focus on the digital Apprenticeship standards to allow them to stay ahead of the curve. Their programme areas include Leadership and Motivation, Data Analysis and Cyber Security, Finance/Accounting, HR and Customer Service. At the conference, Fabiola discussed the importance of these opportunities, in providing their workforce with added motivation and the ability to gain valuable qualifications.
The Levy Conference brought together a range of our current partners and other organisations who are currently in the process of implementing similar Apprenticeship strategies within their businesses. It also included a presentation from Denise Moon, Head of Learning and Development at Mencap, who discussed their own Apprenticeship Levy journey and shared her experiences with other delegates. Guests were also given an insight into how the Levy has impacted on the Digital Industries and the benefits of investing in Digital Apprenticeships to stay ahead of the curve.
Our next Apprenticeship Levy Conference will be held on Wednesday 28th November. Keep an eye out on our website and social media platforms for more information about the location, theme and agenda. You can register your place for this conference now: https://confirmsubscription.com/h/d/3305E4ABDC7DA679