The problem is that people do not understand what apprenticeships should be for!
Training new minimum wage staff is not remotely like putting somebody on an apprenticeship. On the job training is done by every employer and provides the skills needed to do the job - to function, to be useful and an asset. Apprenticeships provide a framework to get somebody very useful, and perhaps difficult to recruit, in the future. They have a real cost, but also advantages. You or one of your staff will have to teach them - to a framework, with a specific standard. This person may even need to be trained in how to do this. They might, depending on industry and awarding body (because it's a real qualifiction) need to get qualified themselves. Assessor training, and even assessor assessor training. The college will have somebody in your organisation tasked with assessing and verifying work done by the apprentice against an approved and contractually agreed scheme of work. This costs you in time and money. You get to pay them less, because it's costing you! At the end of the scheme you have a worker that will probably command higher than minimum or living wage, because YOU gave them a qualification - perhaps the one you ask for in job ads for more specialised personnel? Traditionally time served apprentices command higher pay, and once trained can leave you and work for somebody else, grateful for the training YOU provided. Somebody employed to make tea does not need to know the history of the East India Company, or know how to test the ph value of the water and assess the mineral content - your apprentice tea maker would!
Even in those job areas where there now are apprentice schemes that appear odd - retail is a good case in point - they will need to be put in charge of things to complete the course. Maybe complaints, or hours, overtime, commission, stock ordering etc etc - things perhaps done by somebody more senior. This senior person can't just wing it - they'll have too follow prescribed methods that the apprentices get taught in college. They then come back and do it for you. Many firms discover the staff time costs in the paperwork and admin burden make apprenticeships quite expensive. Many of the big coffee chains, for example, run these schemes to get their staff qualified and ultimately more useful - they don't do them to save money!
