Co-op, along with other members of The Royal Foundation’s Business Taskforce for Early Childhood is spearheading an intervention to invest in over 600 early years apprentices. These will span employers across the private, public, voluntary and community sectors who support the wellbeing of 0-5 years olds. It will also help play a role in delivering the workforce required to staff the creation of 3,000 nurseries across England.
This will be achieved through the unique Co-op Levy Share service which allows like-minded partners to pledge up to 50% of annual unspent apprenticeship levy funds and share them in a targeted way to support the provision of apprenticeships in underrepresented groups.
Co-op is creating a specific fund in support of early childhood, with a starting pledge of £1m from members of the Business Taskforce and a commitment to raising £5 million over the next 5 years, with additional pledges from Mid-Counties Co-operative. This will help to fund over 600 apprenticeships, which will be allocated to support individuals to get the training they need, whether they are starting or further developing careers working with children and families during early childhood, in a range of sectors across the UK.
The UK has suffered from a significant shortage of health visitors and midwives. One solution has been midwifery apprenticeships, which have shown to be a real success, making midwifery an attractive career and enabling those from a broader range of backgrounds to qualify. The existing childcare system is also widely regarded as expensive and requiring more funding, and many parents are forced to drop out of the workforce to look after their children.
The new Government has pledged to create more than 100,000 new nursery places for children from nine months old, with plans to repurpose unused space in primary schools to create much-needed places in 3,000 nurseries, helping to both drive up standards and meet demand.
A feature of the current Apprenticeship Levy system is the ability for businesses to share their unspent levy with other employers. Since 2021, Co-op has successfully campaigned for the maximum % that could be shared by an employer to increase from 25% to 50%. The government recently committed to reforming the levy to a “growth and skills levy.”
CEO of Co-op Shirine Khoury-Haq said: “Whether we are parents or not, we will all have young children in our lives, and we will understand the importance of supporting them and also their parents through the early years.
“As the Case for Change report shows, supporting early years greatly benefits business. Our Co-op is a 5.5 million strong member owned organisation with more than 56,000 colleagues. A quarter of our Co-op colleagues have caring responsibilities, which is one of the many reasons why we are absolutely committed to playing our part in the work of The Royal Foundation Business Taskforce for Early Childhood.
“With the Government’s pledge to create much needed physical capacity in the early years sector, it is great that through our levy initiative we can help attract more people into the sector, giving them the opportunity to consider an early year’s career and the correct training.
“We’re currently in talks with other taskforce members to see how they can contribute to provide further funding, but we are also looking to other businesses not already involved in the taskforce to get involved and support the Levy.”
Sara Dunham, chief officer for Your Co-op Little Pioneers Childcare, said: “The early years sector is crying out for apprenticeships to help showcase what a rewarding career it can be, training the next generation of talented early years teachers in order to provide the best possible start in life for children throughout the UK.
“In our experience, apprenticeships are incredibly valuable, giving us the opportunity to upskill individuals who are passionate about the sector which will ultimately allow us to support more families within the communities we serve.
“As a co-operative, we strongly believe in doing good together to make a collective difference, and this pledge to invest in 600 Early Years’ apprenticeships aims to do just that, helping strengthen the sector as a whole whilst creating opportunities for talented individuals to forge a rewarding career in childcare.”
The Co-op partners with The Growth Company who provide the portal and resource for the Co-op Levy Share service. For more information about the levy and how to pledge visit www.cooplevyshare.co.uk
