Following revelations that Birmingham City Council has had to return nearly £9.5M in unspent Apprenticeship Levy to the treasury, a report to cabinet on 12 November highlighted how a new contract award for apprenticeship training, was only signed in July 2024, 18 months after it was due commence and early 2 years after the previous contract lapsed.
Approval for the contracts had originally been presented to Cabinet in November 2022 and were due to start in January of 2023 – but the contracts were only signed on the 9th of July 2024, 18 months late. Birmingham Local Conservatives raised concerns about this contract when it was originally brought forward in 2022 as the Labour Administration had allowed a contract to lapse in August of 2023. The recently signed contract is funded through the Apprenticeship Levy, initiated by the previous government in April 2017, for all employers paying a wage bill of more than £3 million per year. This levy can then be used to invest in apprenticeship training for the workforce, so they can invest in apprenticeship training for their employees. If funds are not used within 2 years they are returned to the treasury.
Cllr Ewan Mackey (Con, Sutton Roughley), Deputy Leader of Birmingham Local Conservatives, commented:
“With Birmingham Labour if it isn’t delay, its indecision, and the people who loose out from this are always those we should be looking to help the most. Whether its young people just starting out in life, or the elderly trying to heat their homes, Birmingham Labour never fail to fail in their duty as public servants.”
Cllr Mackey continued,
“For a contract to not be signed for a year and a half is just staggering really. This is exactly the kind of oversight and consequent delay that led to the City surrendering nearly £9.5 million of funding that should have been spent in Birmingham & Sutton Coldfield on our young people’s training and education. That money could have helped your children to get started in the world of work with real skills – instead, thanks to the Labour Administration, it was sent to sit in some Government account.”
