Employers commit to apprenticeships and work experience under sector jobs plans
Professional services firms pledge 22,400 under-25 apprentices a year for five years, alongside wider work experience and construction training commitments.
Professional and business services employers have committed to recruiting 22,400 apprentices aged under 25 each year over the next five years under government industrial strategy jobs plans.
The commitment covers businesses including accountancy, legal services and consultancy firms, alongside a pledge to increase work experience opportunities for young people by 20%.
The professional and business services plan includes opportunities in accountancy, business and law, as well as AI, cyber security and data analytics. Employers will also establish systems to track recruitment and support for young people not in education, employment or training.
Further workforce commitments include AI literacy training, wider adoption of the Living Wage, a new sector Good Jobs Standard and monitoring salary transparency in early-career recruitment.
A separate construction plan includes 40,000 placements annually, within a previously announced industry ambition to create 100,000 job opportunities a year. A Construction Apprenticeship Network will be established to support apprentice recruitment and participation by smaller businesses.
Construction employers will strengthen workforce planning nationally, regionally and locally, with plans covering homebuilding, infrastructure, repair and maintenance, and professional and technical roles. The plan also includes preparing workers for AI and industrialised construction.
Mayors, employers and Local Skills Improvement Plans will help shape routes into work around local skills needs.
The government published the professional and business services and construction plans on 19 October. Further plans for digital and technologies and defence are due later this week.
The forthcoming defence plan will include a target to support at least 14,000 people annually through apprenticeship programmes by 2035. Defence firms have also agreed to expand work experience and pathways for young people not in education, employment or training by 25%.
Jobs plans are being developed across the eight priority sectors in the government’s industrial strategy, as well as construction. Plans for financial services, clean energy industries and life sciences have already been published.
Key figures
- 22,400 under-25 apprentices to be recruited annually in professional and business services for five years
- 20% increase in work experience opportunities pledged by professional and business services employers
- 40,000 construction placements annually within an existing industry jobs ambition
- At least 14,000 people supported annually through defence apprenticeships by 2035