Hi mate, thankyou for the reply. I've contacted a few local sparks and they all ask if I have my cscs or ecs card and not being qualified yet I don't. I see you can get trainee ecs and labourer ecs cards if I get one of those is that sufficient? I'm tempted by an apprenticeship in all honesty but being 32 and having a young baby I'm not sure how financially viable it is. It just seems a complete minefield in terms of what people say is the best route in for someone like me.
You can get a labourer card without qualifications if I remember correctly as you're just there as a spare set of hands, you change if once you have your level 2/3 to trainee and once you've got your NVQ/AM2 you upgrade to your Gold Card, and with proof of ongoing CPD you become an "Approved Electrician".
I get what you're saying with family commitments which is why I would get thr level 2 first and then try to flip to an apprenticeship as the units covered on level 2 (and 3 if you've still not got an apprenticeship by the time you'd start your level 3) will map over to the apprenticeship - The toughest sell at this point is convincing an employer to take you on as an apprentice because (as you'll have effectively skipped Year 1 of an apprenticeship - and the crippling wage, from a family POV) they would HAVE to pay you tht NMW/NLW for your age - £10.50 is it, I can't remember, as opposed to over half that for a fresh apprenticeship starter.
All told I believe it costs an employer £950 for an apprentice, in time and money so if you've got that set aside you could try and wriggle in that way; yes Mr employer I know you'll be forking out £950 over the course of a 4 year apprenticeship so here's that burden taken care of, now take me on
Flipping is a hard sell but possible, not common by any stretch but with the right employer it's absolutely possible. Ask - The worst they can do is say no. Sell your advantages over a PFY school leaver; youve been employed, you know what graft is and how important it is to turn up and muck in.
Apprenticeships are basically spoon-fed employment where the hardest thing they have to do is turn up* (and some don't even do that) so if you can sell the virtues and advantages of YOU over them and still make it mutually beneficial (they get reliable labour, you get quals and experience) then the world is your oyster
* That may sound bitter; it is, when it's geared against maturer workers, often with commitments over PFY school leavers living at Chalet de Parents commitment free, then something is most definitely wrong.
