The businesses are reconsidering whether they can afford to train future skilled professionals. 

The Forgotten Side of the Apprenticeship Triangle, which has involved or secured the backing of over 350 plumbing and heating businesses across Scotland, has said that declining employer participation could dampen the skilled workforce needed to safeguard public health, maintain safe homes, build housing and provide low-carbon heating.

According to the research, 84% of surveyed employers had recruited apprentices in the previous five years, but only 53% of those expressing a definite view anticipated recruiting over the course of the next three years.

On the basis of nationally agreed apprentice wage rates and a 40-hour working week, it has been estimated by SNIPEF that employing one plumbing and heating apprentice costs roughly £82,500 in wages over four years.

Some 78% of respondents rated Scottish Government apprenticeship support as inadequate or poor. A total of 93% identified heightened funding as a recruitment incentive. 

At 63%, nearly two-thirds believed training costs should be distributed equally between employers and government.

At 81%, over four in five support the established four-year training model.

A total of £82,500 is the estimated four-year apprentice wage cost, based on nationally agreed wage rates and a 40-hour working week, excluding wider employer costs.

Fiona Hodgson, chief executive of SNIPEF, said: “Scotland cannot afford to take its future skilled workforce for granted. 

“Our research shows that employers remain committed to training the next generation. What is changing is their ability to afford that commitment.”

Hodgson added: “If we continue to overlook employers, we risk losing apprenticeship opportunities and skilled capacity that could take years to rebuild. 

“The Scottish Government must recognise that supporting apprenticeships means supporting the businesses that provide them.”

Brian Warrender, managing director of B&B Warrender Limited in Fordoun, Aberdeenshire, said: “We believe strongly in apprenticeships and see training young people as an investment in our future. 

Warrender added: “But taking someone on is a major four-year financial commitment.”

“We want to keep training, but without practical support, the costs and risks are becoming increasingly difficult to justify.”

Ross Butter, of Jim Butter Plumbing and Heating in Dundee and vice president of the SNIPEF Dundee & District Association, said: “The four-year apprenticeship has served our profession well for generations. 

“Plumbing and heating is skilled, safety-critical work, and it takes time, experience and proper supervision to develop someone who can work competently and independently.”

Butter added: “If businesses stop taking on apprentices today, the consequences will be felt for years to come. 

“Scotland needs skilled professionals to maintain essential services, keep homes safe and install the heating systems of the future.”

Colin Peacock, joint managing director of John Crawford & Co (Mechanical) Ltd in Glasgow, said: “We currently employ six apprentices because finding experienced, qualified plumbing and heating professionals is becoming increasingly difficult. 

“If we cannot recruit the skilled people we need, we have to develop them ourselves.”

Peacock added: “But that is the dilemma.

“Training apprentices is essential to securing the future of our business, yet the wages, college attendance and supervision costs make us think twice about taking on more.”

Four recommendations were made in the report:

• Targeted financial assistance towards wages during mandatory college attendance and early supervision costs.
• Recognition of nationally agreed apprentice wage rates in public grants and employer support schemes
• Ensuring that public contracts requiring businesses to recruit or train apprentices as part of tender conditions explicitly recognise, cost and fund those commitments.
• The plumbing and heating profession to assess flexible, accredited routes for people with relevant skills and experience while maintaining established competence and safety standards.
   
  Fiona added: “We are not asking for standards to be weakened or employers to be relieved of their responsibilities. We want a fairer, more sustainable partnership.”

Looking ahead, SNIPEF is seeking meetings with Scottish ministers, public bodies and parliamentarians to help the recommendations move forward and to attain greater recognition of employers’ positions in apprenticeship training.