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UK News

Churches need to save jobs from apprenticeship status, says Christian charity

by Hannah Tooley

Chris Price, Executive Director the Christian group Pecan, told Premier: "I think for the Christian community, it's looking at God values us all equally - and loves us all equally.

"And what does this say about how we value people who are considered to have a job which hasn't got as high skills?

"They should be as valued as everyone else."

He was speaking after a number of jobs are now being classed as apprenticeships.

Cleaning, emptying bins or changing bed linen are some of those having their status changed, jobs which do not necessarily have a clear educational and learning-based strand to them - a key part of apprenticeships.

The minimum wage for apprentices is £3.30 an hour, compared to £3.87 for under 18s, £5.30 for 18-20s and £6.70 for over-21s. This means that by classing some jobs as apprenticeships, employers can pay their staff less wages than they otherwise would have to.

Chris Price added: "The churches need to come together - where they've come together and highlighted the issues of food banks and the issues of poverty, they need to come together to protect people from lower paid jobs, so that their pay doesn't go down even further, and so that those individuals are uplifted and protected."

Ofsted says that many of the courses on offer are failing to give the learners the skills and knowledge employers are looking for, or add value to the economy.

Listen to Premier's Hannah Tooley speak to Chris Price here:

Listen to Premier's Hannah Tooley speak to Christian MP John Glenn about putting this into law: 

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