What on earth are they thinking? We're talking about the government's plans to scupper adult apprenticeships here, as in "Death by VAT". And what makes it so ridiculous is that HMG are trumpeting the success of apprenticeship schemes over the past few years and saying they're planning on helping introduce even more into the workplace. So, as we've just said ... what on earth are they trying to achieve by proclaiming that training providers will have to charge VAT on Further Education loans?
The obvious answer is, like far too many of their schemes, it's another way of generating income. But that's an incredibly short-sighted plan: in the long term, that additional 20% - passed on to the consumer, like all the other taxes, levies and miscellaneous charges seem to be these days - is going to cost the government and the economy more in terms of the lack of skilled, albeit older, apprentices. And of course, there's the very real threat we all see on high streets across the country every day: higher prices equals fewer customers, fewer customers equals fewer profits, equals fewer, more overworked and unhappy staff ... leading to fewer customers and the whole cycle starts once more until the shop or business in question circles one final time round the plughole and sinks down the drain.
But let's leave it to Association of Employment and Learning Providers (AELP) Chief Executive Graham Hoyle to put it more succinctly. “The current position is very unsatisfactory because it is bound to have a serious impact on the number of adults entering the apprenticeship programme next year,” he says. “The government’s ambitions to see more higher apprenticeships will be badly affected. The skills minister has been made aware of this and he has given AELP an assurance that further deliberations will continue in tandem with the current consultation on VAT on higher education.” That's a printable quote. We expect he's got a few more choice ones that aren't.
