WAGES for apprentices in Oxford could rise after councillors asked for the city’s living wage policy to be reviewed.

Members of Oxford City Council’s scrutiny committee asked officers to examine whether apprentices should be paid a living wage while training.

In September 2009 the city council agreed to pay all council employees and agency workers at least the living wage of £8.69 an hour and to encourage businesses in the city to do the same.

But the policy does not apply to apprentices who only earn an average £4.50 an hour, which is still higher than the national minimum wage for apprentices at £2.73 an hour.

The national minimum wage for under 18s is £3.79, rising to £5.13 for 18 to 20-year-olds and £6.50 for over 21s.


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The scrutiny committee has recommended officers investigate paying apprentices a higher salary, possibly as high as the Oxford living wage.

If the change is made businesses in the city would be encouraged to follow suit.

Green Party councillor Craig Simmons said: “Apprentices are not even paid the national minimum wage.

“We need to see what more we can do to increase that wage, whether it is business rates discounts or giving out some rewards to businesses we are offering the Oxford living wage.

“It is not necessarily about raising apprentices’ wages to the Oxford living wage – it is to raise their wages from the level they are at currently.”

John Keown, who owns Executive Alarms in Cowley, said he has been trying without success to recruit new apprentices to his business.

He said: “If someone turned around to us and said you have to pay them more money it would not put me off because we need apprentices.

“What is more of an issue than pay is that we have found in recent years that the standard of the recruitment pool has not been high enough.

“There might be a small take up if wages rose but I think there are other things which are more important.”

One of Mr Keown’s apprentices, Josh Christopher, said he did not think a higher salary would encourage more people to become apprentices. The 20-year-old said: “I did not choose this job particularly for the wages. I think people do apprenticeships more because of the nature of the work rather than the pay.

“The lower wages is a short-term thing. Everyone has to start somewhere and you do not expect to earn the salary of an experienced engineer.”

And Lib Dem scrutiny committee member Jean Fooks said she did not necessarily think a wage rise was a good thing.

“Apprentices are getting training and therefore they are learning on the job,” she said.

“That is good but I think the living wage is for people who are working full-time.

“I do not think it would be right to expect employers to pay apprentices the living wage. It might be a disincentive.

“Once they get a job they should be paid the same as everybody else but that is not necessarily the case while they are training.”