Thousands of apprentices to take part in major pay study

Emma Finamore
01 Jun 2016

They will be asked details about pay, work hours, and time spent on the training side of their apprenticeship programmes.

The 2016 Apprenticeship Pay Survey is an important research project providing information on training, hours and pay from current apprentices.

The findings will be used by government to help set pay policy generally, and to make improvements in apprenticeship training. The findings will not be used to target specific apprentices or employers for enforcement activity.

IFF Research, an independent research organisation, will be undertaking short telephone interviews with around 10,000 apprentices to ask them questions on pay and hours.

The questions apprentices are likely to be asked will include the number of hours they spend working for their employer in a typical week, as well as the number of additional hours they spend learning and training on top of their normal work. This could include attending college, courses, workshops or training sessions at their employer’s premises or held externally, learning at home, learning from workbooks, time with their assessor and time filling in a portfolio.

Apprentices will also be asked how much they earn – ideally the amount they earn in gross terms i.e. before tax, national insurance and other deductions.

The answers to these questions will enable the government to look at wage levels nationally, measure changes with previous years and monitor whether employers are adhering to the rules on fair pay.

Apprentices selected to take part in the survey will receive a letter prior to receiving a call from one of the researchers.

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