Apprentices under the age of 19, or in their first year of an apprenticeship, are entitled to just £3.40 an hour.
This means that, unless a young person has parents who can support them, or is able to rely on the intensely complex and uncooperative benefits system, they simply cannot afford to do an apprenticeship.
Classified neither as a worker nor a student, apprentices fall through the gaps in the social safety net. Not being workers, they are not entitled to the National Minimum Wage, and, not being students, they cannot access student loans, discounted travel, or student bank accounts.
http://student/istudents/apprenticeships-government-promises-apprentices-disadvantaged-young-people-living-minimum-wage-a7539101.html
Which, if true, would most weaken the argument above?
Adapted From www.independent.co.uk