Tesco boss Ken Murphy has insisted youth employment needs to be a political priority after the “turbulence” of the last few years.
Writing in This is Money, the CEO said school leavers now needed the most support, as “their education has been disrupted, good quality jobs are at a premium, and many risk being left behind”.
Murphy said the barriers intensified for school leavers in some of the UK’s most deprived areas with more young people left looking for work and “an increasing youth unemployment rate”.
He said: “This is a societal issue that needs to be addressed through the combined effort of business and government – and retail plays a crucial role in that.
“Retail is one of the UK economy’s proudest meritocracies – it doesn’t matter who you are, where you live or what your background is, you can go from shop floor to boardroom with determination, ambition and drive.”
He continued: “It’s also one of the UK’s strongest industries – and it’s high time government listened to how it can help unlock the potential in our young people, right across the country.
“The apprenticeship levy is restrictive and impractical, if well intentioned. And my opinions are not unique. The British Retail Consortium, the industry body, recently described the levy as ‘outdated’ and ‘broken’.”
Murphy claimed if reforms had been implemented “when we first started asking for them five years ago” Tesco would have hired an additional 2,500 apprentices to its business.
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He revealed the business was launching its new Stronger Starts apprenticeship for 16–18-year-olds, and that it was going ahead “with or without government support”.
Murphy explained this was its first apprenticeship that required no education qualifications and could provide young people with the equivalent of 5 GCSEs.
While Murphy said entry level apprenticeships were proven to improve skills and typically increased pay by 20% in four years at the supermarket, he said poorly designed government policy meant it couldn’t offer enough of them.
The grocery boss said: “We can only offer 150 Stronger Starts Apprenticeships, when we know there will be demand for so many more.
“To date we have put in more than £100m to the Apprenticeship Levy but according to the Government, our new Stronger Starts apprenticeship barely qualifies for levy funds.”
He added: “In fact, since 2017 a combined £2bn of levy funds have been returned, unused, to Treasury and the number of entry level apprentices has plummeted.”
Murphy said he hoped helping young people find work was “top of their agenda” as politicians began preparing their manifestos, noting reform was a “win-win for workers, business and the economy”.
Earlier this week, Tesco sold its banking arm to Barclays in a deal worth up to £600m.
The supermarket said its 2,800 staff working at Tesco Bank would be transferred to Barclays as part of the deal.
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