Heating firm welcomes apprenticeship push but warns training costs hold small firms back

A family-run heating firm that has trained around 25 apprentices has welcomed the government's plan to get more businesses taking on young people.

Two of Custom Heat & Cool’s former apprentices, now fully qualified engineers with the company, alongside Managing Director Lincoln Smith (centre). | Custom Heat and Cool

placeholder image — Two of Custom Heat & Cool’s former apprentices, now fully qualified engineers with the company, alongside Managing Director Lincoln Smith (centre). | Custom Heat and Cool

But it warns that the cost of training is stopping firms that already have apprentices from taking on more.

Custom Heat & Cool is based in Rugby and employs around 70 people across the Midlands and the South West. The company is the UK's biggest Worcester Bosch installer and has run its own apprenticeship programme for around a decade.

In his first Budget, Chancellor John Healey confirmed £100 million to expand the Local Apprenticeship Service. The service will send local teams to encourage firms that have never taken on an apprentice to do so. It is part of the government's response to almost one million young people who are not in work, education or training. The Chancellor also confirmed a 3.9% rise in the National Living Wage and National Minimum Wage.

Managing Director Lincoln Smith said matching young people with local employers was the right idea, and getting more firms involved was a good thing. But he said it was only part of the answer.

"There are businesses like ours already training apprentices who would take on more if the cost of doing it was more manageable," Mr Smith said. "We've trained around 25 apprentices and we'd like to take on more. The hard part for a small firm is the cost of training someone over three or four years. For most of that time an apprentice is learning rather than earning their keep. We pay their wages, we pay for the days they spend at college, and we take experienced engineers off jobs to train them. Wages rise every year, and that's right, but it means every apprentice costs us more."

He said college capacity was adding to the problem. "Colleges don't have enough tutors, so some of our apprentices wait longer than they should to finish their qualifications. That stretches the cost out even further."

Mr Smith said the trades should be seen as a skilled career rather than a fallback. "A modern heating engineer works with heat pumps, smart controls and customers in their own homes. If the government wants more young people to choose that career, it needs to make it easier for firms like ours to train them."