Deliveroo urges gov't to lift restrictions to apprenticeship levy transfers
The firm has warned of a nationwide chef shortage in the restaurant sector.
Deliveroo has called upon the government to lift restrictions to apprenticeship levy transfers, arguing that it will address an ongoing shortage of chefs in the restaurant sector.
From their latest research, the delivery giant noted that eight in 10 of their 35,000 restaurant partners were struggling to hire new chefs, with more than half (54%) claiming this was mainly due to not finding enough “suitably qualified applicants.”
Currently, employers like Deliveroo are restricted by a 25% cap on the amount of unspent apprenticeship levy which can be transferred to businesses down their supply chains. This percentage, the firm said, is equal to nearly half a million pounds over five years for small restaurants.
Also read: Parliament urged to review apprenticeship levy
Following these findings, the firm, in partnership with apprenticeship provider HIT Training, announced its up to £100,000 investment per year from their own apprenticeship levy to train up to 20 chefs a year.
Moreover, it also offered 4,000 free online training courses, with topics ranging from hospitality to events to life sciences, for their partner restaurants to aid in upskilling their employees. This was made possible in partnership with employer management platform WrKit and through global universities and corporate institutions, including Yale University, Open University and Accenture.
The firm noted that the most in-demand courses for their partners were food health and safety, business management and hotel and catering training.
“Our priority is to help our restaurant partners hire, train and upskill restaurants' workforces and develop a new generation of culinary talent. We’re always looking for new ways to help our restaurant partners grow their businesses and, ultimately, bring more amazing food to even more customers,” COO Rohan Pradhan said in a statement.
