50 years celebrating the ECA Apprenticeship Awards, as SMEs say the 10 years of the Apprenticeship Levy has failed them

[edit] 50 years of the Edmundson Apprentice of the Year award for outstanding apprentices

ECA Members have a long and proud tradition of employing electrical apprentices and developing the skilled electricians and industry leaders of the future. Edmundson Electrical is proud to work with ECA to showcase the very best talent across ECA’s Member businesses and to recognise the commitment that members make in supporting apprentices throughout the four years of the apprenticeship.

2025 marks the 50th anniversary of the ECA Edmundson Apprentice of the Year award, which recognises outstanding apprentices who not only have good technical skills but are role models for others in the industry. We will be marking this with a special event and awards presentation where we aim to feature updates on how past winners have gone on to forge successful careers within the industry.

We will also be promoting the central role of electricians in new and low carbon technologies, with foundation skills for Solar PV and EVCP installation now embedded and assessed within the Installation/Maintenance and Domestic Electrician apprenticeship standards.

Employing an apprentice can be challenging, particularly for small and micro businesses. As well as celebrating apprentices and their employers, the awards allow us to recognise the contribution of industry training providers who don’t just deliver teaching and assessment but often provide invaluable support in terms of recruitment, administration and mentoring of the apprentice.

Half a century of celebrating ECA Members and their apprentices is quite an achievement. This year’s awards will open for entries in April – let’s make it a bumper year and show how ECA and its Members are leading the way in investing in the future electrical workforce.

Entries for the 50th anniversary of the ECA Edmundson Apprentice of the Year award will open soon. To learn more about the awards and past winners, click here.

[edit] 10 years of the Apprenticeship Levy has failed them say SMEs

During National Apprenticeship Week 2025 (10-16 February 2925), The Telegraph wrote an article examining the apprenticeship levy and its effect on small and medium enterprises (SMEs), nearly ten years after it was introduced in the Conservative Government’s 2015 summer budget.

The apprenticeship levy, introduced in 2017, is a tax on large employers with a wage bill of more than £3 million per year. These businesses must contribute 0.5% of their payroll into a training fund to support apprenticeship programs. However, The Telegraph shares concerns from SMEs, who argue that the funding is not reaching them. Many believe the system is failing to support smaller businesses in hiring and training apprentices.

The Telegraph’s Ella Nunn spoke with ECA Member Ealing Electricians, whose founder, Benjamin Gilbert, expressed frustration over the challenges SMEs face. He explained that, unlike larger companies, small businesses often lack the time and resources needed to manage apprenticeships effectively.

In the article, Andrew Eldred, ECA’s Chief Operations Officer was quoted as saying: “The levy funds pay for the training apprentices are required to do but they don’t support the employment and recruitment of these workers. These costs are easily absorbed by a big company but, of course, it’s more of a challenge for small businesses.

“It feels like there’s sometimes a tendency, at the governmental level, to look at small employers taking on apprentices as altruism.

Actually, it’s an economic exchange with wider financial effects. Small businesses are only going to continue signing up to this system if there’s a return on their investment.”

To read the full article, ‘The system is broken’: How George Osborne’s apprenticeship dream fell apart, click here.

This article appears on the ECA news and blog site as 'SMEs say Apprenticeship Levy has failed them' and 'National Apprenticeship Week 2025: Celebrating 50 years of outstanding apprentices' dated 14 February, 2025.

--ECA

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