subject: Plumbing Apprenticeships [print this page] A plumbing apprenticeship is becoming very difficult to obtain and it is now rare to obtain places for apprentices at the current time. It has been made worse by government legislation that states that all employees, by law, have a minimum level of pay and holidays, in addition to all the usual company benefits. So, the problem is mostly a financial one.
In an ideal world everybody should have a good level of pay and working conditions, but this was not the case in old days. Although this might be an ideal situation in the modern world most small employers do not have that level of resources to finance the apprentice; it really is that simple. What has consequently happened then is that plumbing businesses do not offer plumbing apprenticeships at all; they have ceased.
The consequence of this is that there is now a shortage of highly trained plumbers over the whole of the UK. The situation is not getting any better because rather than the government giving financial help to small companies to get the training back, they have chosen to adopt a policy of providing subsidies for thousands of immigrants to the UK where more often than not poor quality trades people are welcomed with open arms. The eastern bloc countries especially are coming here in their thousands.
This has to a point filled some holes in the market, but at a massive cost. It's a shame because folk already living here needing to become plumbers here are being told there aren't any plumbing coaching roles. It's an increasing issue because inexpensive labor from foreign nations does often have a detrimental effect. Many of us coming here find that they cannot live without executive intervention because the price of living is so high. They're helped financially causing another drain to the taxpayer.
In the old days somebody wanting to start a plumbing apprenticeship would work for very little money on the understanding that he or she would start at an early age, usually live at home, and be supported by mum or dad whilst the training was going on. The early sacrifice of money and benefits at work would be compensated at a later date once the training was complete. This way, the employer could afford to finance the apprentice plumber. In fact, it was normal for the parents or guardians to also enter into the plumbing apprenticeship contract to provide living expenses whilst the training was carried out.
5 years on, a completely qualified plumber would emerge. Those days are long past, and it appears that now they'll never return. Folk have different expectancies nowadays and it is doubtful that folk learning the plumbing trade would be ready to sacrifice 5 years of salary simply to learn a trade. Naturally, plumbing apprenticeships started early, sometimes when you left college at 16 and it would follow that even aged 21, most firms would only permit newly qualified plumbers to perform little works, and not enormous plumbing roles.
When we have a look at some of the work carried out by plumbers of years back we will see the quality and skills required. They were workmen and it took years to become an expert. It is reasonable to say that correct plumbing apprenticeships are nearly dead. There are so few chances for folk now this route is nearly just a dream. It's still possible to start in plumbing but for the bulk of folk they're going to have to look at a different route.
