Herald - Issue 403

11th March 2021 • The HERALD • Page 51 v SAY YOU SAW IT IN THE HERALD v Tel: 023 8254 7600 TMT House, 12 The Marsh, Hythe, Southampton, SO45 6AL enquiry@tmtlegalservices.co.uk www.tmtlegalservices.co.uk Your Local Legal Specialists WILLS & PROBATE ONLINE AND PHONE CONSULTATIONS AVAILABLE Call the Team on 023 8254 7600 or visit our website for our online quotation tool where you can also instruct us BRYANT & CO Chartered Accountants & Business Advisers We provide a wide range of accounting and business services to individuals, partnerships and limited companies. We specialise in working with family owned businesses, providing guidance and advice as appropriate. Our services include: • Annual Accounts • Bookkeeping • VAT • Payroll and CIS • Personal and Corporate Tax Returns • Management Accounts • Business Advice • We also provide training on the use of Sage and Quickbooks, and the implementation of computerised and manual accounting systems. • Meetings can be arranged to suit your needs, including evenings and weekends if more convenient to you. • The initial meeting is free of charge, regardless of the length of time, as we believe it is important to develop a good working relationship from the outset. • All fees are agreed in advance of any work being undertaken. Please call Peter or Lisa on 023 8089 4982 to arrange a meeting to discuss your business needs. You can also contact Peter on 07976 808969, or email us at info@bryantandcompany.co.uk Have a look at our website www.bryantandcompany.co.uk for a fuller understanding of our business. ASK A PROFESSIONAL Fancy Winning £5,000 Towards Apprenticeship Costs? A third of companies and tradespeople who regularly hire apprentices feel that the programme has been made harder due to the pandemic, as new Office of National Statistics (ONS) figures show a 30% drop in new construction apprentices between August and October 2020, compared to the same period the previous year. Demonstrating the e ect of COVID-19 on the scheme, more than one in ve companies that usually hire apprentices took on fewer in 2020, despite a h of tradespeople believing that the programme is more important now than ever. Looking at the year ahead, the positive news is that a quarter of businesses and tradespeople plan to bring on apprentices in 2021. Building surveyors and electricians are the most likely trades to be looking for apprentices this year, while painter/decorators and landscapers are least likely. Men in the industry are more likely than women to think that an apprenticeship is a great way for people to learn skills. Contrastingly however, it is tradeswomen and female-led companies that are most likely to be looking for an apprentice in the year ahead, with a quarter of women planning to hire a trainee compared to only one in ve tradesmen. According to the O ce of National Statistics, female apprentices in construction are also on the rise, increasing by 19% in the 2019/20 academic year compared to the previous 12 months. e statistics also reveal a changing story for apprentices of colour. While Black, Asian and Minority Ethnic (BAME) apprentices made up only 6% of new construction apprentices in 2019/2020, this represents a 16% increase to the previous year and an 82% rise since 2014/2015. What’s more, despite the challenges of the Coronavirus pandemic, the proportion of BAME trainees continues to grow as they make up 8% of new starters so far, this academic year. e proportion of new apprentices with learning di culties is also on the increase, making up 14% of the 2019/2020 intake. is is a 53% increase from 2014/15. is trend seems set to continue as 16% of the 2020/2021 year’s new starters so far have learning di culties. Commenting on the research, Marco Verdonkschot, Managing Director at Ironmongery Direct, said : “It’s great to see many tradespeople and companies are still looking to make use of the apprenticeship programme, despite the difficulty of the past year. We think the apprenticeship scheme is an amazing way to help shape the next generation of tradespeople. That’s why we’ve launched a competition for a UK based tradesperson or company to win £5,000 towards funding an apprentice. There are so many people who do amazing work in the industry today who started out as apprentices, so it’s important that the programme continues to be well- funded. More needs to be done to support apprentices throughout this pandemic to ensure that we continue to have great talent in the future, and we wanted to do our bit to help!” To enter the competition or learn more about this research, visit: www. i r o nmo n g e r y d i r e c t . c o . u k / b l o g / apprenticeships-and-covid-19-looking- ahead-to-2021