The UK minimum wage is currently defined as not a living wage considering the prices of housing and general living expenses. And the UK Government has decided that if a business hires an apprentice instead of a normal worker they can pay them half of the national minimum wage as well as receive grants of up to 10,000 for each apprentice taken on.
I'm not saying that every single Apprenticeship is bad, just that the ones that pay the bare minimum and exploit young and old people with not many opportunities available to them.
In the UK many entry-level jobs are being replaced or have been replaced with apprenticeships that pay in some cases less than half of what they would have paid to any employee that wasn't an aprapprentice.
So you have a lot of money? run a failing business. The UK goverment will pay you and let you pay your employees just a few pound an hour if you call them an apprentice. So I am going to do a quick search on Indeed to gather some supporting evidence.
So this one raised some flags for me anyway. So looking at the company they provide web design and development services in Southend, Essex and are called FOREFRONT DIGITAL. Here is their website. Ok so a Search engine optimization/design & development agency can make a lot of money right, they could make thousands from setting up a website for one client and yet take a look at this companies history.
#notice that they have put the wrong address in for the paperwork, a lot of shell companies do this. Website says based in Southend but all paperwork says Braintree.
So let me get this right, The UK Government is sponsoring a web agency that is not profitable. Indeed this company has not made any profit factoring in any expenses they would have had to incur according to their own paperwork one year they had revenues of £200 which if you ask me sounds a lot like a shell company.
Yet some unlucky apprentice will get stuck at a failing company and will be exploited and not in a real position to learn anything of real value or even learn how to run a business that works and is basically a scam.
There are thousands of similar situations across the UK and it seems to only want to get worse.
#Fightback if you are being exploited and write to your local MP and suggest that they go do an apprentiship if they think they are so good.
