“If they are of white British ethnicity, then they have to meet other eligibility criteria that other ethnicities do not.”
A recruitment agency boss has blasted Essex County Council’s much-lauded apprenticeship scheme for apparently discriminating against British white people.
Ben Drain, managing director of Get Me Group, learnt of the policy as he looked into the authority’s £2,500 grant for employers taking on an apprentice.
He said: “I think it is outrageous that our own council is discriminating against young white British people – and encouraging employers to positively discriminate against them.
“Essex County Council will provide the wage subsidy for every apprentice taken on if they are of non-white British ethnicity.
“If they are of white British ethnicity, then they have to meet other eligibility criteria that other ethnicities do not.”
Since 2009, the Essex County Council-managed Essex Apprenticeship programme has supported 1,556 employers to recruit 2,745 young people into an apprenticeship.
The number of young people unemployed, or not in training or education, has gone from 2,531 or 6.2 per cent since January 2011 to 2,237 or 4.7 per cent at the end of January this year.
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