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Apprentices
[ch 11: page 393]It is not against the law to make apprentices redundant but it is very difficult. In general, apprentices should not be made redundant unless the business, or the part of the business where the apprentice is working, is closing down and there is genuinely no possibility for the apprenticeship to continue working in any remaining part of the business. This is because the purpose of an apprenticeship is to provide on-the-job training working towards a transferable qualification. An apprentice who is worried about redundancy should contact their union as soon as possible. Extra funding is sometimes available through the relevant skills funding agency.
The rules on apprenticeships have undergone significant change in recent years. All apprenticeships must now be under a valid Apprenticeship Agreement, which is a contract of employment. Apprentices are “employees”, with statutory protection from unfair dismissal and redundancy (see Chapter 2: Apprentices).
Apprentice wins £25,000 compensation for ending of apprenticeship due to “downturn”
A first instance tribunal judgment of the Scottish Employment Tribunal highlights how apprentices should rarely be made redundant. An apprentice roofer was found by the tribunal to be employed under a four-year fixed-term contract of apprenticeship which was due to end in November 2018. Instead, the employer ended it in June 2016 due to a “downturn in work”, with one week’s notice. The offer letter stated that successful completion would lead to a Certificate of Completion of a Modern Apprenticeship in Construction Roofing Occupations.
The claimant struggled to find a vacancy to finish his apprenticeship, especially as he was over 21 and employers did not want to pay a higher hourly rate. The tribunal awarded £25,000 damages for breach of a fixed-term four-year contract, to include lost wages for the rest of the term and lost career opportunity costs.
Marley Eternit Ltd t/a Marley Contract Services, 3 March 2017
See also Chapter 2: Apprentices.