Modern Apprentices Travel and Travel Costs

Executive Summary

Background

The survey was sent to 31,695 Modern Apprentices (MA) in training in February 2019, via Qualtrics. There were 5,886 responses, which means the response rate was 19%.

Overview of respondents

The sample is reasonably representative of the MA population in training across variables, including residence by SIMD decile and individual and occupational framework groupings. Men and people aged 20-25 were slightly underrepresented. Skills Development Scotland used age and gender to weight the data to make it more representative of the MA population.

Travel as a reason for selecting a Modern Apprentice

Just under a third of MAs considered their travel options before starting their MA. There are variations across different ages, occupational framework groupings and where the MA lives in the extent to which MAs consider travel.

The largest proportions of MAs select their apprenticeship to increase their skills (69%) and achieve a qualification (59%). A fifth consider the employer’s location and ease of access as reasons for selecting their MA. Only 5% consider the availability of public transport as a reason for selecting the MA.

Younger people and females are more likely to think about travel and availability of public transport when they select their MA.

Mode of travel

Most MAs travel to work by car (60%) and a further 13% travel by car as a passenger. On the whole, younger MAs (aged 16-19) and females are more likely to use public transport.

There are variations in the way MAs travel by occupational framework grouping. For example, the proportion travelling by car ranges from 81% (for MAs in Transport and Logistics) to 27% (MAs in Personal Services and Barbering).

Cost of travel

There are variations in how much MAs spend on travel to work. MAs in Automotive, Engineering and Energy and Construction occupational frameworks spend the most on travel, while MAs in Retail and Customer Services frameworks spend least. The average spend across all frameworks is £25 per week.

Older MAs (over 25) spend less on travel than MAs under 25. Males spend more on transport than females.

As might be expected, MAs in more remote and rural areas spend more on travel than MAs in towns, apart from MAs in remote small towns. MAs in both the least (10) and most deprived (1) deciles spend less than MAs living in other deciles.

Views about the cost of travel

Younger MAs spend a larger proportion of earnings on travel compared to older MAs, as do MAs living in rural and remote areas.

Two thirds of MAs report they spend less than 10% of their earnings on travel. There are differences across occupational groupings in terms of the proportion of earnings spent on travel. For example, over 80% of Management MAs spend less than 10% of their income on travel; however only 38% of MAs in Personal Services and Barbering spend less than 10%.

Over half of MAs report that their spending on travel is not an issue for them. Approximately a further third report that it is manageable, although their budget is tight.

There are differences across occupational frameworks. For example, over three quarters of Management MAs say that travel costs are not an issue for them, compared to just over a third of those in Personal Services and Barbering.

There are also differences across main mode of travel.

Financial support for travel

More than half of MAs said that they do not receive any financial support for travel. A larger proportion of younger MAs (aged up to 25) have support for travel than MAs over 25, and more males than females have travel support. The main difference is that more males have support provided by their employer.

There are differences across occupational frameworks and the main areas of difference are around whether MAs have support from employers or student discounts.

A higher proportion of MAs living in the most deprived SIMD decile report they have support compared to other MAs living in other deciles