EAL, a leading UK industry specialist awarding organisation, will urge the Government to save what it says are vital qualifications in new trailblazer apprenticeships.

Today its chairman, John Hillier (pictured), will tell MPs that vocational industry backed and developed qualifications are absolutely essential to prove competence, transferability and give confidence to employers and customers.

The Government has decided not to include formal qualifications in new apprenticeship standards, despite industry groups having repeatedly requested that they be retained.

Mr Hillier’s comments come as EAL celebrates its 25th anniversary by holding a parliamentary reception to mark the occasion. It is a landmark moment for the organisation, which has issued more than two million certificates to apprentices and learners in the advanced manufacturing and engineering and building services sectors.

Mr Hillier will say that, as industry moves forward to a fourth Industrial Revolution, chaos could ensue if employers cannot tell what new recruits are capable of.

He said: “Time after time, employers have requested the inclusion of qualifications. They’ve always used them, they trust them and they like them – so why wouldn’t they keep using them? This is going to become even more important in the coming decades.”

“The new system of assessment of apprentices being imposed by government is experimental at this stage – no other European country uses it as the sole method of assessment.

He continued: “Radical change is about to sweep through our economy in the form of a fourth Industrial Revolution. Millions of jobs will be lost and millions created as technology revolutionises the world of work.  Without qualifications how are apprentices supposed to show that they can do the jobs of the future – not just those of the present?”

EAL has pledged to continue to work alongside government, industry and learners to develop qualifications from which individuals can truly build a lifetime of skilled, good quality work.