UPDATE: |Inside Andy Burnham’s plans for university-style ‘halls of apprentice’ News

Exclusive: The Manchester Evening News speaks to the people behind the plan to offer apprentices the ‘university experience’

Apprentices in Greater Manchester could be offered university-style halls of residence under new plans Andy Burnham is backing.

The Greater Manchester mayor has committed to trialling the new concept which would offer young people doing apprenticeships the ‘university experience’. It comes as Mr Burnham seeks to create an ‘equal alternative’ for teenagers who don’t go to university.

He says that this promise of ‘parity’ between academic and technical education means offering the same opportunities for both.

That’s why the Labour mayor committed to piloting the ‘halls of apprentice’ concept in his election manifesto last year.

The Manchester Evening News can now reveal that plans for a pilot of the scheme dubbed ‘Our House’ are currently being drawn up.

Co-operatives UK, which is behind the idea, has been surveying thousands of young people across the UK and holding focus groups in Greater Manchester as they prepare to present their findings to employers and organisations that are interested in getting involved.

Speaking to the M.E.N. at Loreto College after one such session with students last week, Co-operatives UK CEO Rose Marley said: “What we’re trying to do with Our House is recognise that going to university isn’t just about what you learn.

“It’s about meeting new people and experiencing different cities and learning to use the washing machine, how to cook for yourself and all those things you suddenly learn when you haven’t got your mum and dad there doing it all for you.

“You know, those are the kind of really important things you learn at uni. They’re life skills.

“We’re trying to create the parity so that as a young person in Greater Manchester, you feel that you’ve got a fair choice, whichever route is the right one for you, so that you can still see the opportunities to be able to to do that, move out from home and get a bit of independence even though you might not go to university.”

The project is still in its early stages with specific details yet to be determined, but Mr Burnham’s manifesto commitment suggests that a pilot will take place before his third term as mayor is up in 2028.

In his manifesto, Mr Burnham described the ‘halls of apprentice’ concept as ‘living accommodation for young people who wish to move across the city-region to take up apprenticeship opportunities’ and argued that all young people should be able to live independently at 18, ‘regardless of which path they are on’.

However, Co-operatives UK is hoping that, if the pilot is successful, the idea will spread beyond Greater Manchester, allowing young people to take up apprenticeships opportunities anywhere in the country.

The idea is currently being tested with young people across the UK to gauge demand before the Co-operative Bank hosts a roundtable in May to discuss specific details.

While these details are yet to be decided, the M.E.N. understands the working assumption is that apprentices will have to pay for their own rent at ‘Our House’ in the same way as university students pay for halls of residence, but the accommodation may be subsidised.

It is not clear at this stage how many apprentices would be offered the opportunity to take part in the pilot with ‘all possibilities’ currently being considered.

Mr Burnham said: “We created the Greater Manchester Baccalaureate (MBacc) to provide an equally prestigious alternative to the university route and it’s going to help thousands more young people to pursue a technical education – including apprenticeships.

“Now we want to make sure they can experience the same rite of passage as those who take an academic route – leaving home and living independently with their peers.

“We know that when we bring people together, we can and do find solutions and we’re grateful to Co-operatives UK and The Co-operative Bank for spearheading this research work.

“We’re just at the start of that exploration, and we welcome contributions from organisations that want to help us level the playing field for our young people.”