Apprentice Problems

[DCFabs]

Hi all

 

I'm hoping someone out there can help out with a little advice.

 

I am an employer of a fabrication company and we took on an apprentice 10months ago. In that time this apprentice has been off for 12 weeks with abroken arm. During this time he was supposed to be at college. During this timewe received a report from the college stating that he was not handing coursework in and it looked as though he would fail his final exams. He returned towork and finished his first year at college and failed one the of the coursesbut he can re-sit later. The broken arm did not prevent him from writing or attending college.

 

My main concern is though that this apprentice will never by classed as atradesman after 4 years no matter how much training / instruction we give him.His work is of very poor quality and 9 times out of 10 has to be remade by oneof the tradesmen and it's costing me a fortune doing this.

 

Taking the above into consideration do I have to keep this apprentice employedfor the next 3 years costing me around £40k in the process or can we part wayson the grounds of unsuitability.

 

I am aware of the protection that apprentices have but surely I must be ableto part ways as this will have a major impact financially for the business.

 

Many thanks

[Emmzzi]

IHave you had an honest conversation with him about his unsuitability?

 

Technically you are indeed liable to keep him on until the end of his training contract unless he actually steals from you, punches someone etc...

 

I think your best option is to ask if he will leave for a lump sum payment. You need some legal advice here though.

[RebeccaPidgeon]

Unfortunately, if employers not only redesignate Salaried Jobs as Apprenticeships, but further, expect the State to step in to provide funding, the key issue to address is not one of the calibre of staff but one of "Caveat Emptor" (Let The Buyer Beware).

 

£40K over 3 years is frankly chicken feed compared to the investment needed to bring a candidate up to spec.