This National Apprenticeship Week Craig Whittaker MP is joining Mencap’s, the UK’s leading learning disability charity, calls for the Department of Education to make apprenticeships more accessible for people with a learning disability and/or learning difficulty.
Current regulation presents unnecessary barriers for people with a learning disability or learning difficulty (LDD) to enter and complete apprenticeships -
in 2020, 0.5% of apprenticeship participants identified as having a learning disability.
Between April-June 2021, Mencap surveyed 141 apprenticeship employers and training providers and found 70% of respondents described current English and Math’s requirements as an ‘unnecessary barrier’ to people with a learning disability/learning difficulty, and 33% were aware of the current requirements having stopped a person with a learning disability or learning difficulty from entering or completing an apprenticeship within their organization.
Adding cognitive assessments to the list of acceptable evidence to qualify for flexibilities to the maths and English standards would enable tens of thousands of people to access apprenticeships and get into work, and 96% of apprenticeship employers and providers support this recommendation. Additionally, 95% of employers and providers believe that apprentices with a learning disability or learning difficulty should undertake maths and English training based on the skills required for their role, rather than a blanket national standard.
Quote from Craig Whittaker MP:
“Apprenticeships are life-changing opportunities. They enable people to learn, train, and earn a recognised qualification, while gaining practical work experience.
For many people with a learning disability or difficulty, this combination of hands-on experience, learning, and pastoral support is the ideal training method.
However, too many people with a learning disability or difficulty are falling at the first hurdle.
I’m supporting Mencap’s recommendations from its new report, Accessible Apprenticeships, and call on the Department for Education to remove the unnecessary barriers for people with a learning disability or learning difficulty to enter and complete apprenticeships.