Reform UK has unveiled its blueprint for overhauling the country’s apprenticeship system, with Suella Braverman declaring the party’s intention to “save this country from the abyss”.
At a press conference held at a business in Enfield, north London, the party launched what it calls an Apprenticeship Wage Credit, a scheme providing small and medium-sized enterprises with a 30 per cent rebate on wages paid to apprentices aged 16 to 18.
According to Reform, this measure would deliver savings of more than £4,000 annually per apprentice for the typical SME, amounting to over £8,000 across a full apprenticeship.
Mrs Braverman called for “a restoration and renewal of this country, so that once again, we are training up our own with the skills that we all need to be a functioning country.”
The party’s education spokeswoman pledged to redirect funding towards vocational and technical education.
On a day when students across the country were collecting their GCSE results, Mrs Braverman issued a pointed warning to young people and their families.
“Be careful, don’t get ripped off by the great university scam,” she said. “Don’t waste your time studying for a pointless degree at a mediocre university.”
She urged those receiving their grades to consider apprenticeships as a route to earning a wage and building a career, rather than following the traditional university path.
“If you want to work hard, if you want to move forward, earn a wage, and have opportunities in your life, take up and look for apprenticeships,” she told the press conference.
The former Home Secretary insisted that a Reform Government would guarantee such opportunities existed, adding: “Your success is our country’s success. We’re on your side, and when I said I wanted a skills revolution, I meant it.”
Reform estimates its plans would cost between £1.5billion and £2billion over the course of a five-year parliament.
To cover the costs, Reform plans to prohibit overseas students from accessing taxpayer-funded student loans and to eliminate what it describes as “Mickey Mouse” degrees.
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Pressed to identify specific courses that would face the axe, Mrs Braverman cited gender studies and golf course studies as examples lacking genuine value.
“Have you really spent three years of your life in the best possible way, and was it worth £50,000 worth of debt?” she said.
She argued that graduates were leaving university unable to buy homes, reluctant to marry, and struggling to start families “because they’ve been sold a line that university is the pathway to success.”
Mrs Braverman pointed to “huge wastage” in the current education budget, noting the Government spends around £22billion annually on student loans, much of which she said would never be repaid.
Reform’s deputy leader Richard Tice opened the Enfield event by emphasising the party’s desire to “make work pay,” drawing comparisons with the Youth Training Schemes of the 1980s which he described as having been “the heart of businesses and communities.”
“Apprenticeships are critical,” Mr Tice said. “What we’re announcing today is a clear sign that not only that we must make work pay, but that work is a great thing, skills are a great thing, trades are a great thing.”
He also defended the proposal to block international students from receiving student loans, arguing the value currently generated by such lending is “not what it should be.”
Alongside the wage rebate, the party announced a £2,000 retention bonus for SMEs that keep their apprentices employed for at least two years.
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