Police Scotland set to recruit modern apprentices for first time in bid to address ageing workforce fears

Scotland’s single police force is set to recruit up to 40 modern apprentices in a first-of-its-kind scheme designed to boost the number of young people within its ranks.

Recruitment for the scheme, which will only apply to civilian roles, is expected to get underway next month as Police Scotland attempt to address the fact only two per cent of staff are aged between 16 and 24.

Unison Scotland, which has raised repeated concerns over the loss of civilian staff following the creation of a single force, welcomed the principle underpinning the proposal but said it was “keeping a watchful eye” to ensure it doesn’t become a mere cost-saving exercise.

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In a paper submitted to the Scottish Police Authority last month, Police Scotland said that all public sector pay policy requirements will be met “with apprenticeships not being introduced as a form of ‘cheap labour’”.

However, the force has made clear that such a programme comes with “financial benefits”, telling the civilian oversight body that tens of thousands could be saved in national insurance contributions following a change in rules set to come into effect later this week.

With no new money on the table to implement the scheme, details of those departments within Police Scotland and the SPA that will take on apprentices will be ironed out in the next few weeks once there is clarity over who has space in their budget to do so.

That said, interest already expressed by a number of departments has led police insiders to believe that between 35 and 40 apprentices will be taken on. A recruitment campaign is expected to launch in time for the next batch of school and college leavers this May.

Holyrood reported last month that Police Scotland will have to pay out up to £4.5m a year under UK Government plans for a new apprenticeship levy, prompting warnings from the Scottish Police Federation that finding the extra cash will be “virtually impossible”.

However, Police Scotland HR business partner Alasdair Muir told the SPA’s human resources and remuneration committee the scheme remains “highly desirable”, adding a number of “hard to fill” vacancies “could effectively be reshaped” into apprenticeship programmes.

“Further, there are the financial benefits of recruiting modern apprentices,” he added. “This includes the effective abolition of the requirement to pay Class 1 Employer National Insurance Contributions from April 2016.

“In quite crude terms, but linked to a prospective programme of 30 apprentices being paid at SPA Band A, the overall cost would be approximately £70,000 less than recruitment for the same number of conventional staff roles at the same level, albeit it is appreciated that in the initial stages the apprentices are likely to be less experienced and effective. Added to potential third-party funding, there is a persuasive financial argument.”

Modern apprentices would be paid the Scottish Living Wage as a minimum and would be kept on as permanent employees following the two-year scheme “where possible”, Muir added.

It is understood that some of the eight legacy police forces ran vocational apprenticeships though this scheme will be the first of its kind since the single force was established three years ago.

According to Unison Scotland, over 2,000 civilian staff have been cut since 2010 amid a focus on maintaining police officer numbers above a government commitment of 17,234.

A spokesperson said: “We’re supportive of the idea of modern apprenticeships in terms of allowing people access to work or getting people the skills to return to work.

“A lot of the rhetoric has been about getting young people into Police Scotland but it is not just about [that], it’s anyone that can come forward to join a modern apprenticeship. We are supportive of that.

“However, what we don’t want to see is this being used to bring people into jobs for effectively less money. We have lost a lot of police staff and police staff skills through voluntary redundancy over the project of Police Scotland and before when we were in legacy forces; there was restructuring going on then and we were losing police staff across Scotland.

“We would be hopeful that their intention is not to let people go on voluntary redundancy and then bring them in on modern apprenticeships so that it’s less money.”