A Model Apprenticeship Agreement for the Advanced Apprenticeship in Engineering
1 This Apprenticeship*1 Agreement is made on between
(the Company) of [and] (you/the Apprentice,) of [and]
(the Parent/Guardian) of *2
The Company’s Responsibilities to the Apprentice
2 The Company will employ you as an Apprentice from
3 The Company will provide you with, as far as reasonably practicable, the experience, facilities and training necessary to achieve all the requirements of your individual learning plan *3 dated
4 The Company will employ you on the terms and conditions contained in and referred to in Annex A.
The Apprentice’s Responsibilities to the Company
5 You agree to be employed by and work for the Company from
6 You agree to observe the terms and conditions contained in and referred to in Annex A.
7 You shall, in your work and training, be diligent and punctual and shall attend such courses, keep such records and take such tests as the Company considers necessary to enable you to achieve all the requirements of your individual training plan dated
8 You shall behave in a responsible manner and shall promote to the best of your ability the Company’s best interests.
[The Parent/Guardian’s Responsibilities]
9 The Parent/Guardian approves the terms of this Apprenticeship Agreement and will use his/her best endeavours to encourage the Apprentice to comply with and to fulfil the training and work requirements set out in this Agreement together with its Annex A and the individual learning plan dated
General
9/10 Not less than *4 weeks before the Company expects you to complete successfully your training as set out in your learning plan, the Company will review with you the position about further employment with the Company after successful completion of your learning plan. If the Company does not offer you further employment, it will use reasonable endeavours to arrange employment elsewhere.
10/11 Unless this Apprenticeship Agreement is terminated on an earlier date as set out or referred to in Annex A, this Agreement shall terminate
*5 days after the Company informs you that the Company has received unconditional written verification from the Awarding Body or Bodies or their representatives identified in your learning plan that you have achieved all of the requirements of your learning plan dated
Signed [Company]
Signed [Apprentice]
Signed [Parent/Guardian]
Annex A
1 Your employment with the Company began on and your period of continuous employment for the purposes of your statutory employment rights also began on
2 Your place of work is
3 You shall be paid by the Company £ per and this pay will be reviewed by the Company from time to time taking into account your progress at work and in training.
4 Your normal working hours are from to on the following days The Company may require you to work overtime in accordance with the following conditions
5 The Company’s holiday year runs from to In the current holiday year you are entitled to days’ holiday with pay. Thereafter you are entitled to days’ holiday with pay each holiday year. You are also entitled to the following public holidays with pay
Holidays must be taken in accordance with the Company’s rules. The principle rules are as follows
The rules for calculating accrued holiday pay on termination of employment are as follows
6 The conditions of your employment relating to absence due to sickness or injury and the amount of pay that you will receive while absent are set out in *6
7 Both parties shall observe the terms and conditions set out in
8 The first *7 months of the Apprenticeship Agreement from the date specified in clause 2 of the Apprenticeship Agreement shall be regarded as a probationary period during which period either party may terminate the Apprenticeship Agreement upon giving one week’s written notice to the other.
9 The Company may terminate this Apprenticeship Agreement without notice if you are in serious breach of any of the provisions of this Agreement or the other terms and conditions referred to in paragraph 7 above.
10 If, in the opinion of the Company, you fail to make satisfactory progress in training, the Company shall discuss this issue with you. If thereafter you fail, in the opinion of the Company, to make satisfactory progress in training the Company shall give notice in writing to you [and to the Parent/Guardian] of that fact and such notice will specify:
(a) in what respect the Company considers the progress in training to be unsatisfactory, and
(b) the standards of performance expected of you, and
(c) the time within which such improved standards must be achieved.
If the standards specified in (b) above are not achieved within the time period specified in (c) above, the Company may terminate this Apprenticeship Agreement by giving you *8 weeks’ notice of termination *9
11 If, in your opinion, the Company is not providing you with the training that you need in order to achieve the training objectives specified in the training plan, then you should raise the issue via the Company’s grievance procedure.
12 The Company may terminate this Apprenticeship Agreement by reason of redundancy as defined by section 139 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 during the period of this Agreement by giving you weeks’ notice of termination. If this Agreement is terminated on grounds of redundancy then the Company shall use reasonable endeavours to arrange a suitable alternative apprenticeship with another employer so that you can continue the apprenticeship.
13 The Company does not operate a pension scheme applicable to your employment. / The Company operates a pension scheme applicable to your employment. You have / have not elected to become a member of the scheme.
A contracting-out certificate under the Pension Schemes Act 1993 is / is not in force in respect of your employment.
14 The following agreements contain provisions currently affecting your terms and conditions:- /There are no collective agreements applicable to your employment*10
NOTE *11
Disciplinary rules and procedure
The disciplinary rules that apply to your employment and the procedures that apply to taking disciplinary decisions relating to you (including dismissal) are set out in the Company’s Disciplinary Procedure, [which is enclosed] OR [which is available for inspection at (specify location, e.g. company notice board, company intranet)].
If you are dissatisfied with a disciplinary decision relating to you including a decision to dismiss you, you can apply to [specify appropriate person identified in Disciplinary Procedure].
Grievance procedure
If you are seeking redress of a grievance relating to your employment, then you should set this out in writing to your [Line Manager or, if your complaint relates to your immediate manager, [ ] /or by approaching the HR department]. The procedures relating to grievances are set out in the Company’s Grievance Procedure, [which is enclosed] OR [which is available for inspection at (specify location)]
(Delete as appropriate) If you have a complaint relating to harassment or bullying/ If you wish to make a public interest disclosure, then you should set this out in writing to [specify the individual, including any alternatives, identified in the policy]. The procedures relating to harassment and bullying/whistleblowing are set out in the Company’s Dignity at Work Procedure/Public Interest Disclosure Procedure, [which is enclosed] OR [which is available for inspection at (specify location)].
Dismissal (other than under the disciplinary procedure)
The person to whom you can apply if you are dissatisfied with a decision to dismiss you for a reason other than discipline is [specify appropriate person. If different people hear appeals in different circumstances, then specify an intermediary such as the HR Manager who can pass the matter on to the relevant person].
[The procedures that apply to dismissal for [name areas covered by Company policies e.g. redundancy, ill-health/absence management] are set out in
(specify relevant existing policies, e.g. redundancy policy, ill-health/absence management policy) [which is enclosed] OR [which is available for inspection at (specify location, e.g. company notice board, company intranet)].] .*12
For all other dismissals to which the statutory dispute resolution procedures apply, the Company will comply with its statutory obligations. A note describing the statutory procedures is [enclosed] OR [available for inspection at (specify location, e.g. company notice board, company intranet)].*13
Note of statutory procedures for dismissal, where no other Company policies apply*14
NB: This note does not form part of your contract of employment.
Step 1: statement of grounds for action and invitation to meeting
(1) The Company will set out in writing your alleged conduct or characteristics, or the other circumstances, which lead it to contemplate dismissing you.
(2) The Company will send or give you this statement or a copy of it and invite you to attend a meeting to discuss the matter.
Step 2: meeting
(1) The meeting will take place before action is taken (unless the disciplinary action consists of suspension without pay or on reduced pay).
(2) The meeting must not take place unless -
- the Company has informed you what the basis was for including in the statement the ground or grounds given in it, and
- you have had a reasonable opportunity to consider your response to that information.
(3) You must take all reasonable steps to attend the meeting.
(4) After the meeting, the Company will inform you of its decision and notify you of the right to appeal against the decision if you are not satisfied with it.
Step 3: appeal
(1) If you do wish to appeal, you must inform the Company.
(2) If you inform the Company that you do want to appeal, the Company will invite you to attend a further meeting.
(3) You must take all reasonable steps to attend the meeting.
(4) The appeal meeting need not take place before the dismissal or disciplinary action takes effect.
(5) After the appeal meeting, the Company will inform you of its final decision.
*1 There is no legal need to use the terms “apprentice” or “apprenticeship” although this will usually be easiest. Another description could be adopted such as “apprentice trainee” or “engineering trainee” but the agreement together with Annex A will have to be amended to reflect this.
*2 The inclusion of the Parent/Guardian as a party to the agreement is highly desirable in all cases where the apprentice is under 18 at the start of the agreement. It should be noted that where the Parent/Guardian is a party to the agreement, then the agreement provides the Parent/Guardian with certain rights and duties and these need to be complied with - for instance, in respect of lack of progress in training by the apprentice. If the apprentice is over the age of 18 at the time the agreement starts, it is not necessary to have the Parent/Guardian as a party to the agreement and so, where the Parent/Guardian is not to be a party to the agreement, all references in the contract to Parent/Guardian should be deleted.
*3 The written individual learning plan for the apprentice must be prepared and agreed in each case prior to finalising the agreement and the apprentice starting work. A copy of the individual learning plan should be kept by the employer and the apprentice.
*4 This blank should be completed by the employer. The basic idea behind this clause is that there should be a discussion between the employer and the apprentice, at a reasonable time in advance of the expected ending of the apprenticeship on successful completion of the learning plan, about the prospects of further employment by the employer after successful completion of the apprenticeship agreement. If the employer does not offer further employment, then the employer should use reasonable endeavours to arrange employment elsewhere.
*5 This blank should be completed by the employer and need only be a few days. It is suggested that five days will often be an appropriate period. This clause needs to be strictly complied with by the employer.
*6 The agreement including its Annex A provides the apprentice with the main terms and conditions of employment. However, it is anticipated that it will be supplemented by reference to other documentation setting out other relevant terms and conditions of employment for the apprentice. Thus the blank should be completed by the employer by referring to other specified documents, such as the staff handbook and where the documents are available for inspection. The type of issues that will need to be covered include providing further details relating to holidays and holiday pay, sick pay arrangements, disciplinary rules and disciplinary and grievance procedures and pension information. The aim must be to provide a complete set of rights and duties for the apprentice sufficient to cover all likely events. Careful consideration needs to be given to linking the apprentice’s general terms and conditions of employment to those applying to employees generally. Any other document(s) referred to must be reasonably accessible to the apprentice.
*7 This blank must be completed by the employer. It is for the employer to decide what is a suitable length of time for the probationary period but it is suggested that this should be a specified period of usually between three and six months.
*8 This blank must be completed by the employer specifying the length of notice that will be given. However, the length of notice should not be less than the statutory minimum periods of notice specified in section 86 of the Employment Rights Act 1996 (see EEF Employment Guide for further information).
*9 The operation of this provision by the employer will need to take into account the review process arrangements as set out in the individual training plan. Also the LLSC should be informed when the employer is intending to dismiss the apprentice for unsatisfactory progress so as to provide the LLSC with the opportunity to counsel the apprentice.
*10 Specify any collective agreements that directly affect the employment, or state that there are no such agreements.
*11 This note must be included with the agreement. We recommend it is attached to it as a separate document.
*12 This clause should be included where the company has policies relating to dismissal for reasons other than discipline, for example a redundancy policy or ill health/absence management policy.
*13 All companies should include this clause to cover situations where the statutory procedures apply to a dismissal, but there are no other company policies to deal with it.
*14 This note describes the statutory procedures, and should either be enclosed with the agreement or be made reasonably accessible to the apprentice.