Approximately 960,000 temporary workers in the UK could benefit from better skills training if the government let them access the training funds their agencies pay to the Treasury, according to research from the Recruitment and Employment Confederation.

The REC says courses which could lead to significant pay rises and higher productivity would be unlocked if money paid for the Apprenticeship Levy could also be used on other high quality qualifications as part of a skills levy.

Neil Carberry, Chief Executive of the Recruitment and Employment Confederation, commented, “The Apprenticeship Levy was designed with the best of intentions, but everyone knows it is not working as intended. It’s time for reform.”

The REC is launching a petition calling for the government’s Apprenticeship Levy to be changed to a flexible training levy. The Confederation says the Apprenticeship Levy is "poorly designed, inflexible and doesn't reflect modern working practices".

According to the REC, 670 of its members already have £104 million of Apprenticeship Levy funds between them going unspent, because it can’t be used to support the temporary workers on their payrolls.

“The Apprenticeship Levy was designed with the best of intentions, but everyone knows it is not working as intended. It’s time for reform,” Carberry said.

“As we redesign the levy, keeping support in place for apprenticeships matters, but we must end the scandal of locking temporary workers out of the system,” Carberry said. “Employers are paying a levy for them, but can’t use it to support their development. 95% of REC members who pay the levy cannot use the funds available to them to train their staff.”

Carberry added, “Recruiters are already doing what they can, but the contribution the recruitment industry could make on skills and progression would be hugely amplified if the government broadened the scope of the training Apprenticeship Levy funds could pay for. Letting agencies access the levy funds HMRC takes from them to provide quality training to temps would be transformational for career progression, productivity and inclusion. It would be a win for government, employers and temporary workers themselves.”

Matthew Taylor, who wrote the Good Work Plan for the government also supports re-examining the design of the levy. Taylor said the inability for the levy to accessed by employment agencies and the employees “is particularly frustrating given these employees are among those who would most benefit from additional training.”

Robyn Holmes, founder and Managing Director of recruitment agency Prime Appointments, said, “The government’s existing policy doesn’t acknowledge that more employers rely on skilled temporary workers and more employees want to do temporary and flexible work.”