There could be university-style accommodation for apprentices in Greater Manchester

In a bid to create an “equal alternative” for those who don’t go to university, apprentices in Greater Manchester could soon be offered university-style accommodation. Independent living away from home is often considered a rite of passage and could soon be on offer for apprentices.

This follows Burnham’s initiative of the “Greater Manchester Baccalaureate” (MBacc) which is set to provide an alternative to the university route and support more young people to pursue technical education, including apprenticeships. It’s very early on but a pilot is expected to take place before Burnham’s third term as mayor finishes in 2028.

Now whilst a lot of this is up in the air, it appears that rent would be required but accommodation may be subsidised – this isn’t an official stance or policy, just what local press currently understand. A key and as yet unanswered question here is how things like degree apprenticeships, hosted by many universities in the region cross over in this venn diagram.

Whilst there’s a growing number of commuting students across the UK, it is becoming more pronounced in regions like Greater Manchester where students are relocating but practising commuting due to housing and cost of living pressures. And this announcement positions independent living and relocation as a universal experience for young people in higher education, and presents the traditional residential student experience as the norm.

If university-style accommodation is built for apprentices, it assumes housing for university students is currently adequate. Hearing the frustration of student union officers right now trying to get their voices heard on the Renters’ Rights Bill – which doesn’t provide many paths for students to complain about their housing quality, let alone some amendments presenting entirely different renting rights to the rest of the population – would suggest otherwise.

But the subsided aspect of this proposal is also important. If waged apprentices (albeit not minimum wage) are provided with subsidised accommodation, it also assumes that university students can afford rent. Stop a student in Fallowfield or Salford and ask if their student finances even begin to cover rent – spoiler alert, it doesn’t.

Now, the Mayor of Greater Manchester has the devolved powers to do this sort of stuff with the MBacc and doesn’t have the power to improve the student maintenance system himself (although lobbying on behalf of students would go a long way). But he, and other metro mayors, have the ability to better regulate the quality of housing for students with things like the existing Good Landlord Charter which is currently optional and take steps to develop more affordable housing.

Going to university should not be the only opportunity to experience independent living, and opening up more options for apprentices is outright a good thing.

And it’s right not to put these two pathways in competition. However, what doesn’t feel so right is the growing problems in housing quality and affordability for university students across the region and UK that remain unaddressed by the student finance system and the current housing legislation in England.

There’s been long standing housing issues in major regions like Greater Manchester, caused by a lack of affordable housing supply for everyone, regardless of whether you’re a university student or apprentice. Specific housing for apprentices doesn’t seem to solve this problem.

There are differences in different pathways, and that’s okay, but in trying to close the experience gap, this might make existing inequalities in housing for students starker.