Lord Chadlington calls on industry to embrace apprenticeships

The Huntsworth CEO warned agencies that they would fail to connect with audiences if they did not get behind the PRCA-backed scheme, which is understood to now have around 40 spaces being readied for young talent.

Speaking at an event marking the scheme's progress on Monday, Chadlington said: 'What we've never done in this industry is take in a spread of people who reflect this country.'

He added that youngsters had much-needed digital expertise, with ‘small and aggressive’ marcoms competitors ‘eating our lunch’ in this area.

Huntsworth-owned Grayling and The Red Consultancy are to snap up two apprentices each. Another agency set to do so is Modus, which appeared on a BBC show last year highlighting unpaid internships.

The PRCA and Pearson-backed apprenticeship scheme was launched last year with £1.2m of funding from the Government.

PRWeek revealed last month that Shepherd Construction in York has become the first to hire an apprentice under the scheme.