Rayner says that party will revamp training levy

JESSICA FRANK-KEYES

LABOUR will reform the unpopular apprenticeship levy, Angela Rayner pledged at a key business summit yesterday.

The scheme, which firms have described as a “£3.5bn mistake”, means companies with a payroll of £3m or above have to put aside 0.5 per cent to spend on apprenticeships.

But firms say the rules around training types mean they have missed out on spending vast swathes of the cash, which is scooped up by the Treasury if unused after two years.

The party’s deputy leader told firms at the Confederation of British

Industry (CBI) future of work conference that Labour will “start by turning the Tories’ failed apprenticeships levy into a growth and skills levy”.

Rayner said Labour wanted the levy to be “used on the greater range of training courses that businesses tell us they need… so adults can gain new skills and businesses can grow.”

She told firms Labour was “unashamedly pro-worker and probusiness”.

She added: “Thirteen years of economic failure has left businesses and working people out to dry… but our response cannot and will not be a rerun of the 1980s.”

In an interview after her speech, Rayner told the CBI: “People are one of the biggest assets we have in our economy.

It’s the working people of this country that create the productivity and growth that we need.

“Harnessing their skills and making sure nobody is left behind is fundamental to our target to have the highest sustained growth in the G7.”

Rayner added: “While Labour is pro-worker and pro-business, the Tories are neither – and that’s bad for working people, bad for business, bad for our economy and bad for our country.”