A new report has found that employers believe apprenticeships will be crucial towards business recovery from the pandemic. Intelligencia Training explores why apprenticeships should be considered not just as an entry route, but also as an opportunity to upskill current employees.

The Build the Future Apprenticeship Survey from the Open University has found that 66 per cent of employers who continued to train their apprentices throughout the pandemic enabled faster business recovery, while more than 70 per cent of employers agree that apprenticeships will be crucial to their recovery from the pandemic, revealing plans to increase utilisation of apprenticeship training in the next 12 months.

Whilst the number of people starting apprenticeships halved during the first lockdown, over 50,000 apprentices completed their training despite restrictions, as Intelligencia Training, a specialist apprenticeship provider and the UK’s most experienced provider of Intelligence training, and other like-minded organisations, across the apprenticeship sector introduced online and virtual training, according to the 2020-2021 Annual Report by the Institute for Apprenticeships and Technical Education.

These figures show a positive increase in the perception of apprenticeships as a viable and recognised training route, highlights Intelligencia Training, but as we enter a new year it is important for employers to consider the opportunity that apprenticeships present for upskilling the current workforce.

For those working in specialist provisions, such as Intelligence, Counter Fraud or Financial Crime, apprenticeships offer a role-relevant training opportunity that enables them to develop new knowledge and skills and gain parity with others across sectors.

Apprenticeship training for upskilling is also mutually beneficial for both employee and employer, explains Intelligencia Training – whilst employees gain new skills and behaviours that may not usually be developed to the same level within traditional commercial programmes, employers are able to increase existing workforce capability and mobility, without necessarily requiring new recruitment.

A trusted education partner for a breadth of organisations, Intelligencia Training has seen a significant increase in the number of employers taking advantage of the Apprenticeship Levy and utilising apprenticeships for upskilling, across both the public and private sectors, since their inception.

Over the last 12-months, the specialist apprenticeship provider has welcomed engagement from Lancashire Police, the Department for Work & Pensions, Dixons Carphone, Covéa Insurance, and many more major organisations who have recognised the opportunity that apprenticeships present for upskilling.

To help other organisations better understand how they could introduce apprenticeships into their training strategy, whilst making effective use of the Apprenticeship Levy, Intelligencia Training has introduced a Levy Guide with the option to book a Levy Assessment to discover how their specialist apprenticeships across Intelligence, Data, Counter Fraud, Security and Risk / Compliance can be utilised via Levy Funding.

For more information, visit www.intelligenciatraining.com.