A study of 190 apprenticeship vacancies by GMB, the union for teaching assistants, has warned that 75 per cent of them are advertised at the legal minimum of £3.50 an hour, way below the average apprentice rate.
The average wage offered across all vacancies was just £3.81, the research said.
According to GMB, teaching assistants are being paid 43 per cent below the average hourly rate for Level 2 and Level 3 apprentices, who receive a median wage of £6.70 an hour.
The minimum £3.50 an hour rate applies to apprentices under the age of 18 or those in the first year of their scheme, and represents less than half the over-25 national minimum wage of £7.50 an hour.
The GMB analysis of teaching assistant apprenticeship vacancies found:
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