Speaking at a Chartered Institute of Export & International Trade LinkedIn Live event yesterday (12 February), held to mark National Apprenticeship Week, experts shared the benefits of the programme often overlooked by industry, particularly within the freight forwarding sector.
These included government funding available to both large employers and SMEs, flexibility of both programme delivery and content, and the practical benefits of applying learning while working.
Attendees also heard from learners already enrolled on the Level 3: International Freight Forwarding Specialist programme (IFF), provided by the Chartered Institute’s apprenticeship delivery wing IOEx Ltd.
To learn more about IOEx’s IFF apprenticeship programme, send us a message here.
Why freight forwarding?
The Chartered Institute’s apprenticeship success manager, Steve Horrell, said that the sector could benefit from structured training to develop workers as experts.
He explained that many freight forwarders are “falling into the sector, rather than realising there’s a career in it”.
“There needs to be more understanding that there’s a solid pathway, reigniting that passion for learning and professional development”.
It’s not just freight forwarders that stand to benefit, Horrell adds that lack of awareness around progression opportunities leads to high attrition rates in the sectors, leaving businesses without the right expertise.
Russell Finex success
One company that decided to take the apprenticeship route to plug their skills gap is industrial manufacturer Russell Finex, which decided to hire a trainee and upskill them through IOEx’s IFF apprenticeship to handle additional customs paperwork required following the UK’s exit from the EU.
Company secretary, Lisa Harris, said that taking a trainee and giving them the task alongside their training made “life a lot easier”. She added that previously another team member would need to research relevant processes, which would take longer due to lack of expertise, “whereas now we have a full process which works really smoothly”.
Creating this additional resource also came at no extra cost. As a larger employer, Russell Finex must pay into the Apprenticeship Levy – a requirement for all firms with an annual payroll of more than £3m for the apprenticeship. Harris said that the training was paid for through by the levy, which is taken from the company accounts automatically each month, meaning there was “nothing additional the company needs to pay”.
SME benefit
Horrell said that many small employers don’t realise that, although they don’t qualify for funding through the apprenticeship levy, they’re still entitled to very generous government apprenticeship funding.
Citing the government’s ‘co-investment model’, he explained that “the Educations, Skills and Funding Agency (EFSA) will fund 95% of the course cost in most cases”.
Not only are small employers able to pay just 5% of the course cost, the EFSA offers additional incentives for younger learners. In the context of IOEx’s IFF programme, this would mean that an employer only pays £450 for training.
Horrell adds that for companies with under 50 employees, under 21-year-olds will be fully funded by the EFSA, while those under 18 are incentivised to learn through apprenticeships, with “two staggered payments of £500” being made to the company over the duration of the qualification.
‘Earn while you learn’
It’s not just employers being paid to train staff. The Chartered Institute’s apprenticeship quality manager, Amanda Lewis, said that getting to “earn while you learn” was a key apprenticeship benefit that she’d personally experienced in a previous role.
Lewis added that she could attribute her career progression to what she learned as an apprentice, saying that it acted as a “springboard” to becoming a manager.
In particular, she highlighted the value of gaining “hands on experience when you’re training” and continually applying what you learn to your existing role.
Blended learning
In addition to tackling funding concerns, Lewis highlighted the flexibility of the IOEx programme, which offers a blended learning approach.
This includes virtual sessions with the learner’s training delivery coach, alongside online tasks. However, Lewis adds that in-person sessions can also be arranged – “we tailor our delivery to suit our employers needs also”.
This was echoed by Horrell, who pointed out that IOEx prioritises keeping training delivery coach (TDC) to learner ratios low in order to better suit learner needs.
“Our caseloads are strictly capped to allow our coaches to work with learners who want to work at a faster speed and complete [their qualification] earlier.
“It’s not a carte blanche approach to everybody.”
Flexible delivery
This flexibility is embedded in how TDCs approach teaching the material, with Matthew Grimshaw, a logistics coordinator at Valmet currently enrolled on IOEx’s IFF programme, praising his TDC Jim Allsop, who tailors tasks to suit his role.
He said that the apprenticeship has “definitely been useful for what I do on a day-to-day basis” and added that he liked how the programme cultivated a friendly relationship between TDC and learner, while also being highly “informative” and offering “a structured approach on how I can improve”.
Applied knowledge is power
Horrell said that one of the biggest benefits of apprenticeships is that they’re structured around developing how a learner engages with their role, not just imparting theory.
This is embedded in the knowledge, skills and behaviour criteria learners must meet – with the latter two often overlooked in other training programmes.
“People often say ‘knowledge is power’, but it isn’t. Knowledge is potential… it needs to be implemented, which is the beauty of an apprenticeship, it helps that knowledge to be used in an expert manner.
“Understanding how to behave in implementing skills releases that knowledge.”
For National Apprenticeship Week, Steve Horrell, apprenticeship success manager at IOEx, is ready to provide you with tailored advice about apprenticeship funding options and how to build freight and customs knowledge in your team.
Fill in a form here, with the message ‘apprenticeship enquiry’, for a free consultation with Steve.
