So-called T-levels for 16-19 year old technical students will be introduced from autumn 2019, where students will be able to choose from 15 different career paths, UK Chancellor Philip Hammond confirmed recently in his spring budget.

Announced during National Apprenticeship Week, Hammond said the launch of the Apprenticeship Levy in April will support a further three million apprenticeships by 2020. The number of hours of training for these students will increase by over 50% and all students will take part in an industry work placement.

During the Health and Wellbeing at Work Event, which took place recently in Birmingham, IIRSM Technical Director Peter Hall discussed the Chancellor’s statement. “It was a common view among industry colleagues that we must include teaching the younger generation about potential risks and how to deal with them proportionately,” he says.

Risk management is a growing industry with increasing opportunities for those who have the skills and abilities to make important business decisions.

Risk management professionals require knowledge about a whole range of areas, the skills to engage with a wide range of people, the self-awareness to know when they’ve reached the limits of their competence and the ability to seek out specialist support when required.

IIRSM believes apprenticeships would be a great way to help young people build rounded knowledge and a varied skill set, while also gaining valuable experience under the guidance of an established professional.

That said, it’s important that while the UK scales up its apprenticeship programme, we must train the wider workforce on how to work with apprentices. Colleagues need to know how to deal with the social, emotional or life issues that affect apprentices learning employability skills. And apprentices must not be seen as cheap labour – they must feel supported and valued.

With the increased emphasis on the employer being more in control as we move into a post-levy and post-trailblazer era, this is a pertinent time to be raising this issue.