Government should provide tax relief on train to gain, says CIPD

The Chartered Institute of Personnel and Development (CIPD) welcomes the governments renewed calls to expand apprenticeships in the UK, but is concerned that small/medium enterprises which provide the majority of apprenticeships lack the financial support they need.

The CIPD believes the government should re-examine the tax agenda especially capital gains tax with a view to offering tax relief on train to gain schemes. It costs an employer thousands of pounds to take on an apprentice.

The CIPD also welcomes the governmentís announcement for companiesí such as McDonalds, Network Rail and Flybe to deliver in house training programmes equivalent to A Levels.

John McGurk, CIPDís Learning, Training and Development adviser said: ìThe CIPD is delighted the government is formally recognising high quality in house training programmes like those announced today. With an increasing number of UK organisations facing acute recruitment and skills shortages, many employers see in house training and apprenticeships as a better means of addressing these than externally provided courses.

ìTraining and qualifications are central to upskilling employees and improving productivity. But any effort to increase skills has to be underpinned by good people management. The assumption is still that more training and qualifications automatically produces higher productivity. However skills development is much less effective if it is detached from people management practices such as job appraisal and reward.

ìOrganisations must also be aware skills training should be transferable to other roles and companies, allowing individuals to develop and contribute to the UKís knowledge economy.î