In 2021, the All-Party Parliamentary Group on Accounting for Growth initiated an inquiry into apprenticeships and skills, looking at how to boost financial, professional, and business skills in the U.K. The APPG sent out a formal call for written and oral evidence to businesses representing a wide variety of U.K. economic sectors, this included the apprenticeship employer and training provider network of The Chartered Institute of Management Accountants® (CIMA®).
Between December 2021 and March 2022, CIMA on behalf of the APPG for Accounting for Growth, conducted interviews with ten U.K. based businesses engaged in the apprenticeship scheme. Contributors included training providers, those contributing the curriculum and exams, those who oversaw or commissioned apprenticeships in businesses and suppliers that organised the provision of an apprenticeship.
Interviewees were asked questions from a set list in a structured interview covering
topics such as:
The value higher apprenticeships provide,
Social mobility and access to the profession,
The bureaucracy in the system,
The impact of the pandemic on apprenticeships and
The future skills need of the U.K. economy.
This report draws together the observations of each of those interviews and the insights of those that submitted written evidence. The recommendations contained in this report are intended as options for consideration. None of the individual interviewees or the organisations they represent were asked to sign up to support these recommendations and it is not their agreed collected view. Their inclusion in this report is not a sign of the endorsement of those who contributed. We thank each of them for their contribution, without which this report would not have been possible.
This report was conducted with the support of the CIMA. Founded in 1919, CIMA is the world’s leading and largest professional body of management accountants. As part of the Association of International Certified Professional Accountants, CIMA and its members and students operate in 192 countries and territories, working at the heart of business — in industry, commerce, the public sector and not-for-profit organisations. CIMA works closely with employers and sponsors leading-edge research, constantly updating its professional qualification and professional experience requirements to ensure it remains the employer’s choice when recruiting financially trained business leaders. The APPG thanks CIMA for their support with this report.