Kitchen apprenticeships closure is a ‘travesty’

Apprenticeships in Kitchen Installation are under threat at WEBS Training in Nottingham, seeing all future courses cancelled, in a move that the kbbNTG has labelled a ‘travesty’.

Changes in rules by the Skills Funding Agency (SFA), which provides funding for the apprenticeships, mean the Kitchen Installation courses no longer meet its terms from August 1. It demands that 12 months study are required for the NVQ Level 2 and a further 12 months study for Level 3, doubling the length of the course and making it more expensive to run.

The full-time Kitchen Installation Courses currently run for 12 months and see candidates paid £90 per week, by WEBS, to gain an NVQ Level 2 or NVQ Level 3 in making and installing furniture (kitchens).

Training director of WEBS Training Peter Sisson commented: "Three years ago we started a scheme with full support of the SFA and approved by Ofsted, where we employed apprentices on a full time Kitchen Installation course. We were increasingly seeing the demand for Kitchen fitters and a desire by young people to gain entry into the industry but were unable due to lack of experience. Most kitchen fitters are either self-employed or part of a small team and were therefore unable to take the risk of employing an apprentice. WEBS are a none profit making business, working solely with the furniture and associated industries, and were therefore in a position to support these young people.

He continued: "After spending the first few months in house learning the basics of kitchen fitting, Apprentices are placed out with fitter having real experience in customers houses. WEBS continue to pay the Apprentice during this time so there is no risk to the fitter."

However, the new ruling will mean that it will be too prohibitive in cost for WEBS to now run. Peter Sisson added: "Our course will therefore have to change to 24 months. Every Apprentice of the scheme has at least two new kitchens as part of their course as well as numerous practice pieces entirely at Webs costs. Increasing the course to 24 months will obviously double the cost of running it with no increase in funding and therefore becomes unsustainable".

Around 40 apprentices have already been trained through the programme and 20 are currently on courses.

WEBS has worked with the kbbNTG since its inception, eight years ago. Renee Mascari commented that the KBB NTG was also working with WEBS Training on an apprenticeship framework for kitchen design, which is now unlikely to come to fruition.

The training provider had also recently opened a £2.5million training facility, part funded by the SFA, with a 'considerable area' dedicated to kitchen installation.

Chief executive of the kbb NTG Renee Mascari has provided letters of support for the courses from the kbbNTG and the Kitchen & Bathroom Forum, but to no avail.

Sisson added: "We are currently looking at all options and have had numerous discussions with the SFA and National Apprenticeship service who say they support our programme and value it highly but cannot allow us to break the new rules. We were hoping to take on a group of school leavers in the next few weeks but this has now been put on hold until a way forward can be found."

Renee Mascari is 'gutted' about the SFA decision, having declared: "It’s a travesty of the first order. How can we introduce any new people into our industry, if [Government] has tied our hands, feet and mouth together?”

She is now calling for the kitchen and bathroom industry to pull together and offer their support to petition over the withdrawal of funding for the WEBS Kitchen Installation apprenticeship. Email Renee Mascari, of the kbb NTG, for more information.

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NTG bites back

There appears to be a lack of knowledge amongst some blogtwitbookers about the role of the NTG in today’s kbb markets,so let me give them some relevant facts.The NTG was formed in 2004 with the objective of becoming the conduit for relevant training opportunities for people in thekbb sectors. Before that there was simply nothing specifically for our sector, as all other national training opportunities were focussed on the wider (and larger) ‘construction’ sector – as opposed to our mission which relates specifically to ‘rooms’ rather thanbuildings.

Setting up from nothing basically, and there was much bad feeling about the statutory CITB levy and grant system, which again, ever aimed its cash at the kbb market, despite many participants being levied on their payroll to fund training activities – so you can understand the frustration of many of us in the industry, but also see the opportunity for a body to focus

specifically on kbb training.

Now getting accreditation, developing NVQ’s, developing a framework for an apprenticeship programme – even doing anything like this, is a minefield covered in red tape and obstruction…it’s an obstacle course that puts many people off at the start, but we were committed to developing relevant training opportunities for the industry – despite these obstructions.

Also, you must bear in mind that we are not exactly flush with money, and had to develop our own income stream to enable us to continue, and we had some generous supporters in the shape of the BSH Group, the KBSA Corporate members, Industry partners and the BMA (Bathroom Manufacturers Association) which enabled us to obtain matched funding from

Construction Skills – as we were able to convince them that this would be recognition that the kbb sector needed specific support, away from the construction sector.

Having started, we have been working tirelessly to develop relevant activities, and some of the courses run recently were:

3 day kitchen design courses

The BMA Bathroom Academy – This gives on-line training modules

Skills Academy Masterclasses – sponsored by Blum, Egger and Hettich

Sales & Customer Care courses

Building Regulations – how they affect the kbb sector

Many NTG accredited CPD learning sessions delivered through company in-house training

A kitchen installation apprenticeship scheme at level 2 NVQ – which produced 12 young apprentices (32 currently being

trained and ongoing) in 2011 through the scheme run by Webs Training in Nottingham as well as other training providers in the North.

We are trying to encourage more schools/colleges and universities to take the kbb markets as opportunities for employment – whether that be in sales, design, installation, project management etc – a mission that must continue.

We may have been hiding our light under a proverbial bushel in the past, but our mission for 2012 is to raise our profile, develop new courses (like The Living Kitchen Workshop, which we trialled in December with several KBSA retailers) – focussing on the need now to include elements of interior design when planning a kitchen project), and then promoting these

opportunities in our trade press and other relevant areas.

Members of the relevant trade associations (KBSA, BMA) receive discounts on course costs, and there are grants available also from Construction Skills which cover in-house as well as external training sessions undertaken. As our markets have become driven by ‘fashion’ over the past decade, the industry is finally emerging as a vibrant, exciting, and rewarding employment opportunity for many young people – and is becoming a job that’s worth consideration – rather than one that is viewed as old-fashioned and unexciting.

I hope you can share the vision we have, and are working towards delivering to the benefit of improving standards in our modern industry. So, the more people embrace these opportunities, the quicker we will succeed.

Graham Ball

Acting chair

KBB National Training Group