When Callum Fullam, 18, was accepted as a mechanics apprentice by a well-known car dealership, he was delighted. But it wasn’t long before he realised that he was being treated very differently from his fellow apprentices. “I had to clean the workshop or do filing, while they were allowed to do the work they were hired to do,” he says.
The job started to affect his health: Fullam has a condition called tarsal coalition. “The bones in my feet didn’t separate properly before I was born,” he explains. “Walking and standing causes a lot of pain and discomfort. It was such a manly atmosphere, I didn’t feel I could talk about how much I was struggling.” He resigned after a year. “I was pretty depressed,” he remembers. “It had a huge effect on my mental and my physical health.”
Fullam is not alone. In 2018/19, 12.3% of all apprenticeship starts declared a learning difficulty or disability, up from 7.7% in 2011/12. But a recent report from training company Cognassist found that 15% of learners who drop out of their apprenticeship do so because their needs aren’t being identified and they’re not getting the right support.
So what needs to be done? Mark Capper, head of development in the Lifestyles & Work team at Mencap, a charity supporting people with learning disabilities, believes that apprenticeships should be more flexible. Since 2017, some apprentices with learning difficulties and disabilities have been exempt from the minimum standards of maths and English, which apprenticeships normally require. “That’s a great step in the right direction,” says Capper. “But there’s a whole host of people who don’t have an EHCP [education, health and care plan] and for whom flexibility is essential if they are to succeed.”
Finding the right training provider who understands any adjustments to learning is crucial – but also difficult. “We approached three providers and as soon as they heard our apprentice had special educational needs, they weren’t interested,” says Roy Candlin, contracts manager at Ground Control. “Luckily, our fourth is fantastic. Our apprentice, who has autism, is now fully qualified and working for us full-time.”
To help people with disabilities into work, training providers can claim financial help to support learners with a disability, while providers and employers recruiting an apprentice aged 19 to 24 with an EHCP are eligible for a one-off incentive payment of £1,000.
If your company has fewer than 50 employees, the government will pay the entire cost of training an apprentice who is under 18 or aged 19-24 with an EHCP. The Disability Confident badge identifies employers who have signed up to the government’s Disability Confident scheme to recruit and retain more disabled people.
In September, Fullam accepted a new apprenticeship in business administration at Youth Engagement Slough, which organises free activities for young people – and he is loving it.
“Everyone here is supportive,” he says. “I can say if I’m having a bad day. It’s very different from my last place. So if you’ve got a disability and you’re thinking about applying for an apprenticeship, I say go for it.”