Contractors helping trainees get living wage

CONTRACTORS in the North West are leading a charge for fairer rates of pay for apprentices.
 
New figures from social housing regeneration consortium Procure Plus have revealed that 92% of the active contractors on its frameworks choose to pay apprentices the ‘Living Wage Plus’ – a 300% increase since its introduction in May 2013.

The Living Wage Plus is an enhanced rate of pay introduced by Procure Plus that sees first year apprentices receive a minimum of £4.57 per hour, £1.84 more per hour than the official minimum wage for the training roles, while second years receive £5.90 per hour.

The improved rate has been designed to break down the financial barrier of a sub-£3 per hour wage created for many who wanted to take up apprenticeships, and tracks the construction Industry Joint Council apprenticeship rates.

In this past year alone, 203 individuals who have taken up apprenticeships with
Manchester-based Procure Plus’ contractors have benefited from the enhanced wage.

All contractors on Procure Plus’ frameworks are encouraged to pay apprentices the enhanced wage, and the consortium predicts full up-take by February 2016.

Those on the frameworks are offered face-to-face support to conduct a cost-benefit analysis to determine how introducing Living Wage Plus will affect their bottom line.

Fiona Sharp, head of service quality at Procure Plus, said: “We strongly support the Living Wage, but believe it could go further – namely to support apprentices. To address this we introduced the Living Wage Plus, to encourage those who might otherwise struggle financially to take up apprenticeship opportunities, and still give them something to strive for – the Living Wage.”