Being a carer in apprenticeship

Hi,

Im 19, just wanted to know if anyone had any advice for me. I'm in an apprenticeship which has 8 months left and I've had to take on new carer duties which won't be going away now. Problem is I work 5 days a week , on completely random days and so I can't be there for that person enough at all. I want to drop my hours but I don't think I can due to it being an apprenticeship. If I leave I owe £5000 and I don't have that kind of money. Does anyone know of a way around this , any laws or support ? It just feels almost unfair as I can't leave due to I can't afford to , but I can't stay at my job as that person needs me to be there. It's making me very depressed. Any help or advice is very much appreciated.

Your employer can't force you to pay the cost of training under the apprenticeship (they might be able to if you did additional training through them) - it is very much illegal. On the other hand, I think it's always a better option to try to work around your situation. Could you ask your employer whether you would be able to work flexible hours, work from home or maybe change roles?

Speak to your apprenticeship provider. Slightly different but I’m on a nursing apprenticeship and had some stuff go off at home during this, they allowed me to drop my hours and worked with me to adjust my working hours whilst things worked out at home. Hope this is somewhat helpful.

Hi , it's a large private company, and I'm not going to a normal collage it's private so I don't know if they are still allowed to charge. I had to sign a contract stating it which obviously at the start I was fine with but now ..... I can but I have a confusing relationship with my boss and I very much feel like she will take it like I'm not committed to the company rather than the actual issue in hand.