🚨SOUTHEND HOSPITAL UNUSED APPRENTICESHIP £1.4M SCANDAL🚨
A report by UNISON has uncovered an absolute scandal of almost £1.4 million of Southend University Hospital Trust money set aside for apprenticeships which is unusable because of government rules on how it can be used.
A report by UNISON has uncovered an absolute scandal of almost £1.4 million of Southend University Hospital Trust money set aside for apprenticeships which is unusable because of government rules on how it can be used.
The apprenticeship levy, brought in by the government in 2017, means that companies have to out 0.5% of total payroll towards training of apprenticeships - but shockingly this can only be used to pay for training, not the wages of the apprentices themselves.
This means that for cash strapped NHS Trusts up and down the country, this money has sat in a pot which they cannot afford to make use of.
For Southend University Hospital Trust, of a total £1.62 million of apprenticeship levy, only £228,750 has been spent, meaning £1.4 million sitting idly by and not being spent on either local health needs or training apprentices.
Worse still, under the current legislation if any money not spent within two years is grabbed by the government and put into a central pot, which smaller companies can access.
So not only is £1.4 million of local health service money not being spent, but there is a very real risk that it will start to be taken by the government and given to the private sector outside Southend.
The Government needs to immediately change the rules to a) stop this money from being confiscated from local NHS trusts, and b) invest in allowing NHS trusts to take on and pay the apprenticeships this money was intended for.
The full details of this scandal can be read on the UNISON website: unison.org.uk/news/press-rel…
