{"id":4703,"date":"2019-03-13T09:25:24","date_gmt":"2019-03-13T09:25:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.personneltoday.com\/?p=237654"},"modified":"2019-03-13T09:25:24","modified_gmt":"2019-03-13T09:25:24","slug":"apprenticeships-should-be-opened-up-to-single-parents","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/squarehr.com\/index.php\/2019\/03\/13\/apprenticeships-should-be-opened-up-to-single-parents\/","title":{"rendered":"Apprenticeships should be opened up to single parents"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Pushchair<\/p>\n

Photo: Shutterstock<\/p>\n

Most single parents are being locked out of apprenticeships because of a lack of part-time opportunities and the difficulty of supporting children with such low pay.\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n

Single parents make ideal candidates to take up apprenticeships, according to charity Gingerbread, but significant evidence has been found of barriers that inhibit them from accessing and progressing in these schemes.<\/p>\n

Gingerbread\u2019s report,\u00a0Making Apprenticeships and Traineeships Work for Single Parents<\/a>, has found that the proportion of single parents in the UK on apprenticeship schemes is very low and that those who are on them are doing so as part of their existing jobs.<\/p>\n

Barriers include the lack of advertised flexible vacancies, low pay and a lack of matched childcare. Additionally many of the apprenticeship opportunities are\u00a0\u201ctoo narrow\u201d for many women.<\/p>\n

The report also suggests that the government aspires to increase the accessibility of schemes to people who wish to work fewer than 30 hours but states that this has not yet translated into an increase in advertised part-time apprenticeships on the government\u2019s website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Laura Dewar, policy officer at Gingerbread, said there was little evidence that the government\u2019s focus on apprenticeships and traineeships had had a significant impact on single parents and had effectively ignored\u00a0single parents\u2019 desire for work.<\/p>\n

She said: \u201cWith the clock ticking on their target of getting three million people into schemes by 2020 the government has missed an open goal by making apprenticeship schemes incompatible with single parents\u2019 lives and commitments.\u201d<\/p>\n

Gingerbread made four key recommendations to the government:<\/p>\n