Sunak promises more: but what are ‘traineeships’?

The Chancellor has announced plans to triple the number of ‘traineeships’, giving businesses a  £1,000 bonus for taking on a young person. So what are traineeships and what does it mean for young people?

To begin with traineeships are not new. They were started in 2013  as a pre employment opportunity for young people under 19 without the qualifications to begin apprenticeships. – in otherwords for those at the bottom of the jobs queue, sometimes refereed to as NEET.

Lasting from 6 weeks to 6 months, traineeships involve a work placement of at least 100 hours along with maths and English tuition organised through a training provider. They are not jobs; trainees do not get paid – only receiving expenses.

Without any guarantee of future employment and with only a quarter of trainees progressing to full apprenticeships, before yesterday’s announcement traineeships were heading for obscurity – In 2015 there were approaching 25 000 trainees but since then, as with apprenticeships, numbers have fallen – with less than 15, 000 starts last year.

Like Boris Johnson’s promise to provide all young people with apprenticeships, yesterday’s announcement, is an empty promise  and hasn’t been accompanied by any further details or explanation about how it might contribute to a more general job creation scheme for young people – though a  budget statement is planned for Wednesday,  there probably won’t be one.