![[Basket]](images/basket.png){kind=small}
Your order![[cover image]](images/issue/BK201905.jpg)
Apprentices
[ch 11: pages 406-407]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 apprentice to continue working. This is because the purpose of an apprenticeship is to provide on-the-job training while working towards a transferable qualification. An apprentice who is worried about redundancy should contact their union. Extra funding is sometimes available through the relevant skills funding agency. See Chapter 2, page 49, Apprenticeships.
Apprentice wins £25,000 compensation for ending of apprenticeship due to “downturn”
A first instance tribunal judgment of the Scottish Employment Tribunal underlines how apprentices should rarely be made redundant. The tribunal ruled that this apprentice roofer was employed under a four-year fixed-term contract of apprenticeship, due to end in November 2018. Instead, the employer ended it with one week’s notice in June 2016 claiming a “downturn in work”. The offer letter had 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 NMW hourly rate. The tribunal awarded him £25,000 damages for breach of a fixed-term four-year contract, including lost wages for the rest of the term and lost career opportunity costs.
Marley Eternit Ltd t/a Marley Contract Services, 3 March 2017